Philly may get its first (barely) measurable snowfall of the season Thursday

It won’t measure up to what’s been happening in the lake-effect snow belt nor will it close schools, but Philly has a shot at its first official snowfall of the season on Thursday morning, followed by winds that could gust to 60 mph and drive wind-chills into the teens.

Some renegade snow showers crept across parts of the region Wednesday evening, said Patrick O’Hara, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. “There’s a lot of energy with this system, and some stuff has broken out early,” he said.

Measurable snow is “not out of the question,” said John Feerick, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. And the National Weather Service sees the potential of “less than a half inch” at Philadelphia International Airport — at tops about 500 times less than has fallen upon Erie County.

That potential milestone notwithstanding, “I think the bigger concern is going to be a burst of snow causing some low visibility and potentially some problems for the [Thursday] morning commute,” Feerick added.

Given that the ground is cold and snow could land before the sun comes up, bridges and overpasses might become dicey in parts of the region, he added.

The most likely window for any measurable snow in the Philly area would be between 3 and 6 a.m., the weather service says.

As a precaution, PennDot was planning to spread anti-icing material on major roads in the region, said spokesperson Brad Rudolph.

Arguing against measurable snow, said O’Hara, is the fact that moisture is “very sparse” along the potent approaching front that is the triggering mechanism for the showers.

Less in doubt is the potential for powerful winds in the wake of the front during the day Thursday as temperatures hold in the 30s. The weather service has posted a wind advisory for gusts to 50 mph, with isolated gusts to 60 mph possible, and warned that scattered power outages would be in play.

After the front clears the region, the January chill will continue through the week with days in the 30s and nights in the 20s, several degrees below seasonal normals.

Wind chills are expected to fall into the teens early Friday with gusty winds persisting into the late afternoon.

Computer models and their human interpreters say no.

A warm-up should begin Sunday with highs in the 40s, and perhaps well into the 50s on Tuesday with rain likely early in the workweek.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center’s outlook for the Dec. 12 through 18 period favors above-normal temperatures..

In short, Philly isn’t about to become Erie of the East.

Snow still is falling upon our fellow Pennsylvanians in the northwest corner of the state, and as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, 63.8 inches had been measured by a weather service trained spotter in Girard, a small town just southwest of Erie.

With that front crashing across the Northeast, two more feet are possible up that way through Friday, the weather service said.

Residents who live in lake-effect zones have come to expect this when the Great Lake waters are warm and the winter winds are angry, said O’Hara, a native of the New York State snow belt.

However, by any measure this has been an extraordinary event.

Officially, Erie International Airport had skated by with a mere 36.4 inches of as 7 a.m. Wednesday, but 22.6 inches of that was recorded on Friday, the most for any calendar day on record in the city.

Could that ever happen around here?

Actually, it has. On Jan. 7, 1996, an official 27.6 inches was measured at PHL. The runners-up were Feb. 6, 2010, with 21.9 inches, and 21.1 inches on Feb. 11, 1983.

But snow has been scarce around here lately, and no measurable snow has fallen upon PHL in December since 2020.