Prelude To The 60's Now, Prelude To Precipitation Late Weekend

A mild day in the Delaware Valley is off to a mild (by February standards) start.   Temperatures this morning range from the 30's across Eastern Pennsylvania (thank you snow cover) to the upper 40's in Atlantic City, with mid 40's in the city at 4 AM.   We're forecasting low 60's for the city today -- 61 to be exact -- with the potential for it to be milder certainly not out of the question if sunshine can influence the temperatures enough over the course of the day.

One of the reasons for a mild start is some mid and high level cloud cover that is pushing east around the ridge of high pressure in the Southeast.  These clouds will be with us from time to time today and will filter the sun somewhat.  However, there's enough warm air and southwesterly winds around today to nudge temperatures towards 60 for the second time in four days.   We'll make it three out of five on Friday.

The precipitation threat that we discussed for Monday (now, more specifically, Sunday PM into Monday) is still on -- with the focus shifting towards a different solution than the one the Euro and GFS put forth.   Computer guidance has sped up the timing of the first half of the event (as rain or showers) to Sunday evening, with a potential second tailing event that could work through south of town on Tuesday...that second tail could be in the form of light snow if last night's computer guidance was correct.    There isn't any real consistency regarding either part of this Sunday night-Tuesday system in the models, which are spitting forth different forecasts every six hours.    It doesn't look like "storm" criteria around here, however...and the trend is suggesting weaker system in general.   We have time to wait on that though....the warmth is here...enjoy it.