Snow and sleet slicken some roads in the Philly region. A ‘flash freeze’ and 50-mph wind gusts are expected

It is unclear whether this is will be a farewell tour, but a day after it hit 60, winter is making a dramatic reappearance in the Philadelphia area Saturday.

After a burst of heavy snow north and west of the city iced over some roads and dropped visibilities to blizzard-like levels in the morning, a lull was followed by bands of light to moderate snow that are likely to persist through the afternoon, said Mike Silva, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly.

While parts of Montgomery and Chester Counties reported up to 3.5 inches, amounts from the city on east have been negligible, and forecasters weren’t expecting significant additional accumulations.

But the weather service said falling temperatures likely would “flash freeze” standing slush and water. In areas where snow has fallen, blowing snow could become an issue this afternoon, said Silva’s colleague Jonathan O’Brien. Wind gusts to 50 mph were forecast.

Temperatures dropped quickly in the morning as the changeover line pressed eastward, temperatures fell — from 44 to 32 in 90 minutes in Blue Bell, Montgomery County — and road conditions were “quickly deteriorating,” Upper Moreland Township police reported.

The weather service still has a winter weather advisory in effect until 7 p.m. for the city and adjacent areas on both sides of the river, and a winter storm warning for 4 to 6 inches for parts of Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties. A wind advisory for the entire region is in effect until 10 p.m.

Even though temperatures hit April levels Friday and road-surface temperatures still were in the 40s Saturday, O’Brien said, snow and ice was sticking to the streets north and west of the city during the morning.

“Sometime when it comes down that hard and that heavy, when it’s cold aloft it doesn’t matter how warm the road is,” said Silva.

Arctic air will continue pressing southeastward. Meanwhile a coastal “bomb cyclone” — a rapidly intensifying storm — is forecast to blow up sometime Saturday, generating strong winds.

» READ MORE: Just what is a bomb cyclone?

“It looks like the colder air is coming in a little faster,” said Paul Walker, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.

With the storm center tracking farther east than expected, cold air has penetrated farther south than earlier forecasts had indicated.

Temperatures by daybreak Sunday — which won’t occur until after 7 a.m. thanks to the onset of daylight saving time — will drop to near 20 degrees in the city and the teens elsewhere. They are not expected to escape the 30s on Sunday.

Worth noting is that this weekend marks the anniversaries of two of the most disruptive winter storms in the period of observation — the famous Blizzard of 1888, which paralyzed the Northeast, and the March 1993 “Superstorm,” during which Philadelphia set its record for a March snowfall, with 12 inches.

» READ MORE: Here are the top March snows

Said Paul Walker, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., “The storms get quite volatile this time of year.”