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After a January-like weekend for Philly, next week could see 70 degrees, and a 100% chance of potholes

Temperatures late next week could be 35 degrees warmer than Friday's.

A cyclist in a plastic poncho bikes on North 13th Street in Center City on a cold windy morning last month. We're getting an encore this weekend.
A cyclist in a plastic poncho bikes on North 13th Street in Center City on a cold windy morning last month. We're getting an encore this weekend.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

Wind chills fell to 10 degrees in Philadelphia around daybreak Friday, so this might be hard to envision: Temperatures could make a run at 70 next week.

“We are definitely on the roller coaster,” said Jonathan O’Brien, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

The meteorological term for this would be “March,” when the atmosphere over the midlatitudes becomes a battleground between the ambitious spring and the obstinate winter — much to the delight of the average pothole.

Strong high pressure over central Canada is driving cold, stinging winds across the Northeast. Gusts past 30 mph were expected to persist until late afternoon in Philadelphia, and wind chills are forecast to remain below freezing through the weekend with high temperatures mostly in the 30s, or 10 to 15 degrees below seasonal normals.

» READ MORE: Potent March winds roar into Philly region, with outages and 50 mph gusts possible

Eventually that same high will slide eastward and show its warm side, with the effects peaking late in the workweek.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a run at 70,” said O’Brien. For now the official forecast calls for temperatures in the 60s Thursday and Friday, but the computer models might be behind the curve, he said.

The region is expecting its first 10-day precipitation-free stretch in two months, so the soils are going to dry out as the sun routs the remnants of the defeated snow.

In fact, fire-danger alerts aren’t out of the question for next week. The trees are bare, so shade is less of an issue, plus the leaf moisture that can inhibit warming isn’t yet a factor, O’Brien said.

After a snowy February, the radical temperature swings could constitute a veritable greenhouse for a pothole harvest.

» READ MORE: How potholes are formed and fixed in Philly

“We fully expect a severe outbreak of potholes in the coming weeks as temperatures fluctuate,” said PennDot spokesperson Brad Rudolph. “Anytime we experience rapid freeze-thaw cycles, roadways will experience potholes.”

But the region can also brace for an outbreak of outdoor lunching next week. And come a week from Sunday, the sun won’t set until 7:07 p.m. — Daylight Saving Time.