We're Having a Cold Snap -- But What Is It?
By John McDevitt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- We've been hearing it a lot this week, and with good reason: the term "cold snap."
Walk outside without a thick coat and you'll feel the bone-chilling cold.
But the term "cold snap" has different meanings in various parts of the country. If you live in Miami -- or even Minnesota -- your idea of a cold snap could be different than we have living here.
"In different parts of the country a cold snap may have a little bit different meaning, just based on the local climate," National Weather Service meteorologist Valerie Meola tells KYW Newsradio.
"Unlike a heat wave, where we do have a definite number that we follow -- a heat wave is 90 degrees or more for three days -- a cold snap does not have a temperature associated with it," she explains. "It's just an extended period of that cold and dry weather."
Meola says the normal temperature this time of year is 40 degrees: "So it is actually quite a bit colder than normal."
In addition, she warns, dew points are currently very low in the Philadelphia area, which causes your skin to dry out faster.
