Winter Weather, John Bolaris Bear Down on Philadelphia
It’s shortly before 8 am as I write this, and the show is just now starting to come down—big, wet, friendly flakes. We’ve already told you that Philly schools are closed today. Temple University, at least, has its big-adult pants on still, and there’s no word from Penn that anything there is changing today. But rest assured, it’s going to be a mess. The best thing about this? John Bolaris is live-chatting his way through the storm at Philly.com. Someday, the apocalypse will come, we will be dead, and Bolaris will be Tweeting forecasts of how much heat the nuclear firestorms will create at the Shore. John Bolaris will never be killed.
Here’s what the National Weather Service has to say about the weather:
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM EST THISAFTERNOON...* LOCATIONS...THE COUNTIES ADJACENT TO THE I-95 CORRIDOR IN NORTHEAST MARYLAND...SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA AND SOUTHWEST NEW JERSEY.* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOWFALL.* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO 6 INCHES.* TIMING...BEGINNING BY DAWN AND LASTING INTO THE AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL TAPER BY DUSK.* IMPACTS...MODERATE TO SEVERE TRAVEL IMPACTS DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE. ICY ROADS AFTER THE SNOW...SINCE TEMPERATURES WILL FALL BELOW FREEZING LATE TUESDAY...AND LAST FOR A FEW DAYS.PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW...SLEET...AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVELVERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.
So, here’s the timing:
Around 7 a.m., snow will begin to move in from the west. It will be cold enough for all snowfall.
By 8 a.m., the snow reaches Philadelphia, and around 9 a.m., it’s picking up. Conditions will go downhill.
We’re looking at the potential of 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour, and there could be a heavy band of snow that sets up similar to what happened on Sunday.
By late-morning or lunchtime, the snow will be heavy at times. And we’re looking at reduced visibilities. Rain changes over to snow at the shore by noon.
FOX 29’s Futurecast shows the storm lingers until 2 or 3 p.m. in the city before moving east and dissipating as we move into the afternoon and evening timeframe.
