PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Saturday begins our portion of stormy days, being the first of three winter storms preparing to follow the Delaware Valley. A nasty winter mix will haunt the north all morning and will likely overtake Philly and much of the urban corridor around 12 p.m.
The initial rainfall in Philly and much of the immediate suburbs will be snow, sleet and probably some icy rain. As the messy mix moves to Philly, we will begin to see a simpler transition to rain on the coast, while areas of light snow may develop in the northern counties.
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The mixture of Philly and I-95 will persist for the rest of the afternoon and evening before becoming slightly lighter during the night.
The warm air will continue to enter the north and throughout the afternoon and we will probably move from snow / sleet to more rain / frozen rain in the urban corridor during this time.
A change from the winter mix to simple rain will be possible at the Shore, while the northern areas will remain with light and humid snow.
The greatest risk of freezing will occur on Saturday night and night, possibly pushing early in the morning. The reason for the high risk of freezing rain is due to surface temperatures on Saturday that will remain below freezing, while high temperatures in low / medium atmospheric levels will rise to over freezing.
Saturday’s highs will be almost 30 degrees.
The threat of the winter mix, including freezing rain, will continue on Sunday morning. Most of the precipitation will end on Sunday in the morning, but a few light and persistent areas of mixing or simple rain will still be possible during the afternoon. Sunday’s highs will appear in the mid-30s.
When our weekend system is ready, we seek to have a glaze of up to a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation in the vast majority of the region.
However, there is a chance of a larger ice accumulation tape inside South Jersey, where up to 0.25 inches of ice could be possible.
At this time, we do not require a large-scale ice storm, but power outages and very difficult travel are possible from Saturday afternoon until at least Sunday morning.
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The amounts of snow will be extremely low with this system. If something sticks, it would only mean about a 1-inch layer at most for seats.
Monday offers a slight improvement from the winter weather for at least a few hours, while we wait for storm number two. On Monday as a whole it will be mostly cloudy, with possible periods of winter mixing during the day.
Those who see winter weather on Monday will notice that it should be easy and fast moving. The best chance for a more robust winter mix comes Monday night. At this time, our Monday-Tuesday evening storm is slightly warmer.
What this means for us is a better chance of seeing rain, sleet and icy rain, with a lower chance of seeing snow, especially in Philly.
The second round of winter weather ends on Tuesday evening, leaving the chance to clean quite nicely on Tuesday evening and Wednesday.
Definitely my new favorite graphic! The winter weapons of choice for this storm will be melting ice and pushing brooms. Wet snow / wet sleet is possible early, with a change to icy rain / rain ending early Sunday morning @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/wynu8jF22a
– Matt Peterson (@MPetersonWx) February 13, 2021
This will also allow high arctic pressure to take control for at least a short time on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday seems to be mostly sunny, but very cold, with highs only in the 30s lows.
The sunny sky is short-lived as the number of storms during the week unfolds on Thursday. Thursday’s storm now looks like it should start as snow / mix for most of the region before a mix / rain transition, then all the rain for most.
As the system progresses by Friday, it will be possible to switch to snow or rain / snow. An early look at the end of next week shows that we can finally have a few quiet days after the rocky road that is on the way.
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