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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: 01/30/2004 10:19 AM
 

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: Clouds should break up today after our spitting of snow overnight. More warmth returns this weekend. Get out the shorts. 

In the Long:  The winter coded radar from www.weathertap.com (another great site to subscribe to!) shows the retreating snow to our south and east.  The only other notable snows are more lake effect snows out west (cold air moves over the not-yet-frozen lakes picking up moisture that snows out once it moves over higher and colder ground). 

The snow pack in place is still a number of inches of the white stuff in Philadelphia (depending on where you are in the city, out west vs. out east). This won't be threatened by temperatures until Sunday, mostly. 

In the 500mb map, showing winds as they blow west to east across the continent at about 18,000feet above sea level (where the steering winds are for most storm systems) you can again see yesterdays trough fading out.  It is making the light snow to our east now. Another trough over Lake Superior may kick off more (mainly Lake Effect) snows in the next day or so, but don't hold your breath.  The trough over Oklahoma Texas (also marked in red) still may be the player we worry about Mon/Tuesday, but more on that tomorrow. The ridge out west (marked in purple) will warm us up as it approaches. 

Skies right over Philadelphia are still cloudy, but the rest of the state has cleared out.  You can see the snow on the ground in the folds of the land formations across Pennsylvania.  Pretty, no?

The surface map shows the low that the trough above deepened near Philadelphia (over DC) and the sweep of cold air heading down over the eastern US in the form of the big cold front.

Saturday 1am, the front is down on the Gulf Coast and more lake effect snows fall out west. Nothing else important is happening to us!

The simplified view of Saturday's map from the Weather Channel also shows a quiet day tomorrow. 

Saturday 7pm and the 500mb map forecast shows the ridge out west approaching the Great Lakes (and the warm up is on, see yesterday's forecast for more on that). The trough down south is moving over Louisiana. 

Saturday 7pm has a High pressure system moving in (and Lake Effect snows in New York State).  Nothing else.  The system in the deep south is big and wet. 

Sunday and the moisture in the deep south moves into the Carolinas with a new front sliding down the plains. 

Monday and the front and southern storm combine to maybe hit us with ice later in the day (depending on questionable temperatures...it might only come as rain in Philadelphia). 

Tuesday, that system moves northeast leaving us to deal with a rain/snow/ice mix.  More on that Monday!

Stay warm, drive safely and I'll see you here Saturday!

Meteorologist  John Ensworth

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