Hurricane Agnes

My Upper Darby sis texted just before 2 pm that she was getting sleet there and I just checked outside here in NW Philly and yup - am getting ip. Currently 41 after a low of 31 this morning with light sleet.

GFS showing a buncha storms blowing through in early Feb. and is honking the 2/5 - 2/6 period.

18z EC not much different from the NAM for Monday but throws a little down into the I-95 corridor.

18z NAM gives some N/W but not down to I-95 corridor. As an obs, after a 35 low, made it up to 40 today for a high with changeable skies this morning and then generally overcast the rest of the day. Currently 38 and overcast with dp 28.

CMC just gave you and north a little luv...

6z GFS showing all kinds of things trying... Ground Hog's day catastrophe whiffed but now a potential for a few days after. I did finish up with 1.17" rain yesterday and my low this morning was 39. Currently partly sunny and 41 with dp 39.

Have been getting the heaviest rain of the day now and just went over the 1" mark to 1.03" for the event so far at post time. Also did register a lightning strike around 8:30 pm. Currently moderate rain and 43 with dp 42.

Had to animate the armageddon GFS Ground Hog's Day storm. Looks like there is a cold frontal passage just ahead of it and then overrunning precip -

18z GFS Ground Hog's Day special.

Canadian the little engine that tried but couldn't (at least for storm #1). In other news, high for the day so far has been 41 and it's currently overcast/misty and 41 with dp 41 and 0.58" in the bucket.

Was about to throw in the 6z Euro at its last frame... Also as an obs, have so far had a 39 low this morning and it's 40 with light rain, dp 39, and 0.15" in the bucket.

Here's the 6z GEFS showing both storms... (am noticing these guys are coming up from the GOM).

FWIW (for model completeness), the Ukie has been running a bit slower than the others but kept the same general coastal-hugging idea as the others for storm #1. Also keeps frozen to the N/W.

18z GFS looks to have ticked a tiny bit west and comes inland through E. PA and NJ, but gives some wrap-around love to the LV. After a 40 low this morning I made it up to 54 as a high, with changeable skies all day. Currently 46 with dp 36.

EC a bit faster than the GFS but keeping the low coast-hugging.

And 12z GFS moved it east but still inland.

While waiting for the 12z to get to that time frame (almost there), the 6z GFS has that as a RedSky cutter.

My mother had an old cedar tree between her house and her neighbor's house in the front (it was originally planted on their side). It was at least 30ft tall and the whole thing uprooted and fell over thanks to the ice load. The trunk/branches extended out into the street, past the parking lane, and about halfway into a street lane.

That was the year of ice storms too! I remember having to get to 30th St. Station to go on a work trip to Baltimore during the aftermath of one of the January ice storms. It ended up that I-76 was closed for 8 hours right after I decided not to go that way to get to the station. The area had run out of road salt and the store shelves were empty of any halite or equivalent. I was actually able to find some down in Baltimore where they just had rain at the time, and brought a couple bags back in my luggage. lol I found Ray's page with data for a snow/ice storm during this period (Jan. 17 - 18) in 1994 - http://www.raymondcmartinjr.com/weather/1994/17-Jan-94.html

One stat that is interesting to note is that week in 1994 was considered one of the coldest on record around the state. I even saw this from 5 years ago about this same period of January in 1994 regarding Central PA - https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/01/think_its_been_cold_in_central.html But as an additional note, January 19, 1994 and KPHL's -5F, was the last time that location registered a below zero temp - http://www.climate.psu.edu/data/city_information/index.php?city=phl&page=mae&type=big7 So if that holds through this year and into next, it will be 30 years since the city proper had a below zero low (and since that time, it has gotten close - basically single digits but not at or below 0F). As an obs, it's been a somewhat unsettled morning (had heard on KYW that there was quite a bit of fog along I-95 very early this morning although I didn't see any here), but it is currently partly sunny and 45 with dp up quite a bit from earlier in the week at 42.

EC at that timeframe...

And it wasn't just a full sun day but one with no clouds at all (at least where I am) all day! Had a low of 26 this morning and made it up to 46 as a high. Air has been pretty dry to boot. Currently clear and 43 with dp 16.

Could be because by around 1/11/23, the sunrise finally reversed to occurring earlier (sunset had already shifted to happening later after the solstice as part of the parallax), so the day length is increasing a little faster now- https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/philadelphia?month=1&year=2023

Currently mostly sunny and 32 with dp 23. GFS -

Will have to wait for what Punxsutawney Phil says! The cloud deck actually cleared out quite a bit here and it's just partly cloudy and 27 with dp 20 (and humidifiers back in operation).