After a whole tenth of an inch of snow in Philly, those gusty winds are going on break
Philly's snow total still trails that of Dallas and Richmond. Meanwhile, the weather for the Eagles-Packers game should be near perfect.
As Philadelphia dug out from its official 0.1 inches of snow on Saturday, the atmosphere signaled that the region’s gust-weary residents, along with the fans and players at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, were about to catch a break from what has been an “impressive” reign of winds.
A streak of 14 consecutive days of wind gusts 24 mph or better — including gale-force gusts of 39 mph or more on four days this month — was due to end Sunday, with the letup due to continue at least through Monday.
When the Eagles host the Green Bay Packers late Sunday afternoon, temperatures will be in the chilly mid-30s, likely dropping to freezing or below by the second half. But the winds are forecast to remain under 5 mph.
“Compared to what we’ve had, it’s probably going to feel pretty nice,” said John Feerick, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. “It’s about as nice as you can get for the Eagles game.”
How windy has it been in Philly recently?
The gust fest got underway on Dec. 29 on a day when the temperatures shot up into the 60s. Gusts exceeded 30 mph on nine of the next 14 days, peaking at 45 mph on New Year’s Day, when it turned colder.
The National Weather Service doesn’t have a database that would track whether these winds have set any kind of record; thus, “It’s hard to say where it stands,” said Eric Hoeflich, a meteorologist with the Mount Holly office. But the two-week stretch is “impressive,” he added.
Winds at Philadelphia International Airport have averaged over 15 mph this month; the long-term average for January is 9.9 mph.
Winds gusted past 25 mph again Saturday, but at least blowing snow wasn’t a major problem, as it was in some places on Tuesday.
How much snow didn’t fall where you live Saturday
The official airport snow measurement Saturday was 0.1 inches, nudging the city’s total to 2.3 inches, and besting Atlanta’s 2.1 inches. Philly still trails Dallas and Huntsville, Ala., while Richmond has had twice the snow — 4.5 inches — of PHL.
Totals throughout the region Saturday generally were under an inch, but some places in Cape May County reported 2 inches or more, and West Grove, Chester County, came in with 1.6.
Is any more snow in the forecast for Philly in the near future?
A snow shower is possible with the next Arctic front late Tuesday afternoon or evening, and the region has an outside chance of light snow Thursday night or Friday, Feerick said.
Temperatures will warm to near 40 on Monday, then stay below freezing the next three days.
As for next weekend, Feerick deferred conjecture.
Computers proved again with this latest “storm” that they can outdo the atmosphere for caprice. On Monday, the main U.S. computer model was seeing a 30-plus inch snowfall for the weekend.