Cold, rain, wind, and possibly mood snowflakes are forecast this week in the Philly area
But Thanksgiving week could see record warmth.
It won’t be extreme — about what one might expect in mid-November when the sun goes to bed early and takes its time pinking up the sky in the morning — but a December-like chill is about to settle across the Philly region.
After a rainy Thursday, forecasts are calling for highs in the 40s Friday and Saturday, with perhaps some wet snowflakes making cameos.
The chill should last into early next week. However, it appears warmer days will be making a strong comeback after that, with perhaps record warmth Thanksgiving week.
The forecast for the Philly region
Light rain is expected to develop Thursday with highs in the 60s, but winds from the northwest generated by a coastal storm due to mature off the Jersey coast are expected to import much colder air Thursday night into Friday, with more rain possible.
Snow is possible in the higher elevations of Eastern Pennsylvania, and random snowflakes could find their way into the Philly region, said Marc Chenard, senior branch forecaster at the federal Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md.
But no cause for panic.
While the cooldown won’t be polar vortex stuff, stiff northwest winds will drive wind chills into the 30s through the weekend.
Areas in the city away from the core heat island could see temperatures below freezing, said Amanda Lee, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly.
“It’s going to be a shock to the system,” said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. “We’ve been spoiled for the last several weeks.”
True. In fact, after a mild October, temperatures this month are running a lusty 7 degrees above normal.
That has a lot to do with that El Niño warming of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, Kines said.
El Niño continues to cook and affect U.S. weather
The interaction of the overlying air and the waters that have been running about 4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal have been delivering generous amounts of warmth to North America.
That is likely to continue.
A significant warmup is likely in the region starting in the middle of next week, and Kines said that heading into Thanksgiving week, record warmth is possible in Philly.
The government’s Climate Prediction Center has the odds strongly favoring above-normal temperatures in the Northeast leading up to Thanksgiving, not the most welcome news for ski resorts hoping for early openings.
It is likely to get chilly again Thanksgiving weekend, but “before that we’re going to have a lot of nice weather,” he said.
Meteorologists still are keeping an eye on an Arctic disturbance that may allow cold air to spill southward later in the month or in December.
But for now, Kines said: “This is El Niño all the way.”
