Snow On The Way
By Steven Strouss
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Snow lovers in Philadelphia have been disappointed this season. To date just 6.5" of snow has been recorded at the Philadelphia airport while our friends in Boston have shoveled nearly 100" of snow and over 50" in the month of February alone. As we know, almost every storm this season has been an underachiever for us. It will only take 1.6" for this to be our biggest snow event, in Philadelphia, since last winter and it is looking likely that we will finally surpass this amount. We are forecasting 3-4" in the city, 4-6" across interior southern NJ and over 6" in Southern Delaware and coastal NJ. Because this is a southern storm, lesser amounts are expected farther north so we are going 1-3" for the Lehigh Valley and Poconos.
Radar is showing the storm moving in but it is taking a while for the snow to reach the ground because the air is so dry. Dew points in many areas are still below zero so the air needs to become saturated for the snowflakes to make it to the surface. We expect this to happen by midnight and the heaviest snow will occur between 3am-7am. The morning commute will be downright difficult with reduced visibility, slippery conditions and delays so give yourself plenty of extra time and use caution on the sidewalks and roads. Snow will taper off around 10am and it will remain cold Tuesday afternoon with high temps only in the 20s.
There is another chance for snow on Wednesday as a weak area of low pressure moves through with a reinforcing shot of cold air. Don't expect much out of this next system but it will send temperatures tumbling again with highs on Thursday and Friday near 20 degrees and wind chills in the teens. Morning lows on Friday will be in the single digits and this will also challenge records. Despite a brief warm-up into the 30s on Saturday and Sunday, the pattern remains active with another storm that could bring snow or rain to the region as early as Saturday afternoon.