As Saturday's Snow Moves In, Remember That There Are Only 33 Days Until Spring
By Kate Bilo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Another day, another chance of snow in the forecast…but now there are only 33 days until spring and only 22 days until Daylight Saving Time starts, which means sunset will be in the 7 p.m. hour! That alone will help us get through the rest of winter.
But yes, we do have another shot at snow into the start of the weekend. A storm will swing through our area and up the coast before bombing out and bringing blizzard conditions to portions of New England. Most of the nastiness will stay offshore by the time the storm really gets cranking, but we will receive a quick hit of snow that generally falls through the daytime hours on Saturday - likely starting around 7 a.m. in the far north and western suburbs, around 9-10 a.m. in the city and moving offshore by late afternoon or early evening.
We have been forecasting a general 2-4" since early yesterday, with the higher amounts expected in our north and west suburbs (places like Reading, Allentown, Pottstown, etc) and closer to 2" in the city. Expect amounts to lower as you move toward the coast, with the potential for some rain to mix in across South Jersey and suppressing rainfall totals.
We do need to keep an eye on this system as it intensifies offshore, as a slide to the east could bring the threat for a brief period of steadier snow even over New Jersey, but it looks like this one is more of a storm for New England than it is for us.
Regardless, we are less than an inch of snow away from having the third snowiest winter on record, and it looks like we'll get there with this system. It's interesting because the top two snowiest winters each featured a two-foot-plus snow event, while this winter we got there more with the sheer number of storms we've lived through. So, it's probably been the "roughest" winter in that sense.
A significant warm-up heads our way next week, but as always, a dramatic switch in the temperature regime means you need a catalyst, and this time, it's a warm front pressing through early on Tuesday, which could bring a mix of snow and rain as the warm air tries to win the battle over the cold.
