Tonight's Rain & Thunder Pops To The West

Update, 8 PM: A line of thundersleet (or thundergraupel) moved through over the last 30-45 minutes, bringing a brief downpour of rain, small hail/sleet pellets, and pretty frequent thunder depending on the cell that hit your location. These storms are moving through a region where the surface temperatures are in the mid and upper 30's but are remnants of more powerful thunderstorms that rocked Western Pennsylvania earlier this afternoon and evening, with tornado warnings in various parts of the state. These storms are now moving through South Jersey.

Another batch is in Central Pennsylvania -- yes, with embedded thunder and sleet as it moves east. Expect those storms in over the next hour or two.

With light rain and drizzle lurking around this afternoon (yes, snow/sleet/mix/slop to the north of us), the next rounds of precipitation lurk off to our west.   Rain showers across Central Pennsylvania will work east over the next few hours, with larger thunderstorms firing up across Ohio that will march east and impact the region after 8 PM.

If we work a beeline (crow fly line) straight east from where those thunderstorms are, the best chances for them to continue tracking look to be to the south of Philadelphia -- generally Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey.   Given the more stable and chilly environment over us compared to farther west (where Ohio and Southwest Pennsylvania plus West Virginia are under a Tornado Watch)  I don't think we'll see anything "nasty" in the severe department -- but a few rumbles of thunder can't be ruled out this evening and overnight as whatever is left over from those storms works through.  More rain may develop out ahead of the larger complex in Ohio and move through before then -- the point is, expect off and on rain from the city on south...especially later on.    Until then, drizzle, raw, chilly will be the rule into the evening.

Farther north, precipitation may cross in the form of rain, rain/sleet mix, rain/sleet/snow, slop, or snow depending on location, elevation, and precipitation intensity.  Higher elevations have had a good snowstorm so far -- 9" in Tobyhanna in the Poconos compared to 2" in Allentown.   Elevation may win with any further development in precipitation over the next several hours.  However, milder air aloft has made it as far north as Allentown and even into the valleys of Northeastern Pennsylvania and has turned things into a drizzly mess despite cold temperatures at the surface.

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