A Mixed Bag Of Everything
Last night featured, as everyone claims they predicted perfectly, a mixed and varied bag of precipitation...the ugly stepsisters of sleet and freezing rain were accompanied by some occasional snowflakes over the New York area but for the most part last night and this morning featured the unholy duo of sleet and freezing rain to the north and west of I-95 in our region.
Freezing rain fell in the Philadelphia suburbs for much of the night and now that temperatures have risen to the thawing point or slightly above, much of that ice is starting to melt away. Some power outages were reported in Chester County earlier last night and there have been between one and two inches of pure sleet accumulation across the Lehigh Valley through 5 AM.
What has been a bit of a surprise was the persistence of low level cold in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County. As of this morning temperatures are running in the mid 20's in both areas, colder than I thought they would be. While the freezing rain and sleet that both regions experienced last night was definitely not a surprise, the persistence of cold air at the surface, compared to temperatures in the 30's just down the road in Quakertown and Pottstown, is a tad surprising. You can thank northeast fetch of wind helping to drain additional cold air into the Lehigh Valley last night for helping to block the relatively milder air from working its way into those areas.
What happens now? Well, we are in a dryslot between storm #2 to our east and the primary low pressure system which is spinning through the Ohio Valley. Both systems will phase into one bomb of a low pressure system over New England later today. Winds will vary from northeast to southwest and then northwest late and increase markedly as the lows combine. Wind gusts to 40-50 mph are possible later this evening. Temperatures will continue to rise through about midday or the early afternoon and then begin to slowly drop later in the day. The Lehigh Valley may see temperatures rise even into the early afternoon as warmer air aloft mixes down to the surface for a while before the cold air wins out. Lighter precipitation is possible throughout the day today and it will not be as heavy as last night's event.
The event tracker will update you throughout the day with radar and surface temperatures.
Freezing rain fell in the Philadelphia suburbs for much of the night and now that temperatures have risen to the thawing point or slightly above, much of that ice is starting to melt away. Some power outages were reported in Chester County earlier last night and there have been between one and two inches of pure sleet accumulation across the Lehigh Valley through 5 AM.What has been a bit of a surprise was the persistence of low level cold in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County. As of this morning temperatures are running in the mid 20's in both areas, colder than I thought they would be. While the freezing rain and sleet that both regions experienced last night was definitely not a surprise, the persistence of cold air at the surface, compared to temperatures in the 30's just down the road in Quakertown and Pottstown, is a tad surprising. You can thank northeast fetch of wind helping to drain additional cold air into the Lehigh Valley last night for helping to block the relatively milder air from working its way into those areas.
What happens now? Well, we are in a dryslot between storm #2 to our east and the primary low pressure system which is spinning through the Ohio Valley. Both systems will phase into one bomb of a low pressure system over New England later today. Winds will vary from northeast to southwest and then northwest late and increase markedly as the lows combine. Wind gusts to 40-50 mph are possible later this evening. Temperatures will continue to rise through about midday or the early afternoon and then begin to slowly drop later in the day. The Lehigh Valley may see temperatures rise even into the early afternoon as warmer air aloft mixes down to the surface for a while before the cold air wins out. Lighter precipitation is possible throughout the day today and it will not be as heavy as last night's event.
The event tracker will update you throughout the day with radar and surface temperatures.
