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The Story Behind the Weather - By Forecaster John
Ensworth M.S. -
The Discussion of Weather Events Daily for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
Last updated: 03/04/2004 11:48 PM
Good Afternoon Philadelphia!
I'm glad to announce that these
discussions will continue until at least the end of February
(it's a short month)!
I
have the necessary server space (especially with missed days!).
In short: With temperatures staying unusually warm, rain returns off and on, through the weekend.
In long: The infrared satellite picture (showing the temperatures of surfaces as seen from space) shows the still warm ocean and the mass of cirrus spreading eastward clouding up our skies.
The surface map shows a warm front to out southeast with a HUGE mass of rainfall associated with it. Snow is falling only on it's chilly north and western margins. This pattern will remain through the weekend as it moves into the northeast.
The current radar shows rainfall to our far north moving northeast. Not much of a threat. Yet.
You can see the frontal boundary on the low temperature map for the nation. There are night time 70's in the first week of March spreading far up the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Wow!
As the warm front approaches, then later the cold front and low pressure system, we'll see a chance of rain move into Philadelphia by 4am (just a few hours from now... hmmmm it might be late).
Highs tomorrow, behind the warm front, will climb to the 70's right out side of town to the south. 80's are visible in Virginia. Holy COW!
Friday 10pm, more showers move into the warm air.
For 7pm Friday, the first low is passing us and another is forming on the Mississippi river. Rain is taking over the eastern 1/3rd of the nation!
The highs Saturday, as the cold front approaches, will only be near 60 in Philadelphia and the 40's out west.
10am Saturday comes with more rain.
7am Saturday and the cold front is finally passing. Even more rain slams the east.
The highs on Sunday drop to the 40's state wide and near 50F for Philly.
And the rain dies off with only a bit of snow on the northern and western side of the entire system.
It's a great temperature out there now, sorry about the rain. Try to enjoy it!
Meteorologist John Ensworth
Surface Station sky cover color key:
Flight category definitions:| Category | Ceiling | Visibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low Instrument Flight Rules LIFR* (magenta circle |
below 500 feet AGL | and/or | less than 1 mile |
| Instrument Flight Rules IFR (red circle |
500 to below 1,000 feet AGL | and/or | 1 mile to less than 3 miles |
| Marginal Visual Flight Rules MVFR (blue circle) |
1,000 to 3,000 feet AGL | and/or | 3 to 5 miles |
| Visual Flight Rules VFR+ (green circle) |
greater than 3,000 feet AGL | and | greater than 5 miles |
| *By definition, IFR is ceiling less than 1,000 feet
AGL and/or visibility less than 3 miles while LIFR
is a sub-category of IFR. +By definition, VFR is ceiling greater than or equal to 1,000 feet AGL and visibility greater than or equal to 3 miles while MVFR is a sub-category of VFR. |
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