{"id":1050904,"date":"2026-09-08T13:22:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1050904\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T13:22:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:22:26","slug":"el-nino-returns-what-it-means-for-phillys-winter-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1050904\/","title":{"rendered":"El Ni\u00f1o returns: What It means for Philly&#8217;s winter weather"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bcmh1pxw78js1mhx.jpg\" alt=\"How Philly, Bucks, and South Jersey are digging out after snowstorm\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bcmh1pxw78js1mhx.jpg\" alt=\"How Philly, Bucks, and South Jersey are digging out after snowstorm\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image vod-poster-image--embedded\" data-v-5173a8d8=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\"><strong>PHILADELPHIA<\/strong> &#8211; Winter is looking milder than usual for the Philadelphia area based on predictions by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.almanac.com\/winter-extended-forecast-farmers-almanac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Old Farmer&#8217;s Almanac <\/a>for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Philadelphia and its surrounding counties are expected to see above-average temperatures and slightly below-normal snowfall this season. Last winter, one major snow storm brought over 14 inches to parts of Philadelphia and more than 16 inches to the surrounding area.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Although a reprieve from relentless freezing is anticipated this year, experts say winter will still make its presence known during a few key windows.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vlcsnap-2026-02-24-23h21m33s930.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  When to expect cold and snow <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Timeline:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">While overall precipitation and snowfall are predicted to be slightly below normal, you will still need a shovel.<\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>Coldest stretches:<\/strong> Early to mid-December, early to mid-January, and early and late February.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>Snowiest periods<\/strong>: Late November, early and mid-January, early and late February, and late March.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>  Climate factors driving Philly\u2019s weather <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The Old Farmer&#8217;s Almanac says these signs of the season are already appearing, and helped them shape this year&#8217;s winter outlook:<\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>El Ni\u00f1o:<\/strong> A strong El Ni\u00f1o has returned, warming the equatorial Pacific and shifting the jet stream. This typically favors milder temperatures across the East Coast.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>Waning solar activity:<\/strong> Solar Cycle 25 has passed its peak. Historically, high solar activity has been linked to warmer averages, meaning this drop-off introduces a cooling variable.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>Polar vortex<\/strong>: If the swirling pool of Arctic air shifts south, the region could still see intense, bitter cold fronts dropping down from Canada.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>Ocean and wind patterns:<\/strong> The Atlantic remains warm, while a regular shift in high-altitude equatorial winds (the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation) and a neutral-to-positive Indian Ocean Dipole could steer stronger storms our way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\"><b data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source:<\/b> Information from this article was sourced from the Old Farmer&#8217;s Almanac Winter Weather Forecast 2026\u20132027.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox29.com\/tag\/us\/pa\/philadelphia\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philadelphia<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox29.com\/tag\/weather\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Weather<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox29.com\/tag\/weather\/winter-weather\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Winter Weather<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA &#8211; Winter is looking milder than usual for the Philadelphia area based on predictions by the Old&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1050905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,313,36082],"class_list":["post-1050904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-weather","tag-winter-weather"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117235639389301741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1050905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}