What have become the glacial remnants of a picturesque and a meteorologically unusual snowfall that tufted the trees and bushes with a cottony whiteness are likely to stay around for a few more days.<\/p>\n
In what has been quite a chilly December, with not a single day of above-normal temperatures, readings were due to tumble into the teens for the second consecutive morning on Tuesday and not make it out of freezing in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019re getting tired of salting and chipping ice after those overnight freeze-ups,<\/a> you\u2019re about to get some help. <\/p>\n A warm-up is forecast to get underway Wednesday, and come Thursday, which is slated to be the warmest day since before Thanksgiving, the atmosphere is expected to train its snow-removal guns on the region. <\/p>\n Forecasters see a surge of snow-erasing warmth and a significant \u2014 and badly needed \u2014 rainfall <\/a>Thursday night that should restore the landscape to a condition more familiar to Philadelphians and ease precipitation deficits.<\/p>\n As for the prospects of a winter-wonderland encore, nothing is on the horizon in the near term, said Nick Guzzo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. <\/p>\n Said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc, \u201cFor folks looking for more snow, this might have been it.\u201d <\/p>\n At least for now and perhaps until after Christmas, or later. But, \u201cWinter\u2019s not done yet,\u201d Benz said.<\/p>\n The warmup in Philly is expected to be brief<\/p>\n Temperatures could go as high as 55 degrees Thursday, Benz said. Then after a cold front passes through, temperatures will fall during the day Friday.<\/p>\n This won\u2019t be an Arctic front like the one that gave Philly its coldest day of the season on Monday, with a high of 28. However, the forecasts call for readings to be no higher than the 30s on Saturday, and mid-40s on Sunday, which is close to the longer-term normal high, followed by several degrees chillier on Monday. <\/p>\n What\u2019s expected for the next two weeks<\/p>\n In its updated extended outlooks on Monday, NOAA\u2019s Climate Prediction Center had just about the entire country with above-normal temperatures through Dec. 29, with a notable exception \u2014 the Northeast, including Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Predicted upper-air conditions in the Arctic and the North Atlantic would argue against above-normal temperatures around here during the period, climate center forecaster Thomas Collow said.<\/p>\n The center wisely eschews the snow-forecasting business.<\/a><\/p>\n Philly just had quite the unusual snow event<\/p>\n Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, the winter of 2025-26 will be snowier than at least seven others in the period of snow records that date to the winter of 1884-85.<\/p>\n The 4.2 inches measured officially at Philadelphia International Airport<\/a> Sunday is a half-inch above the long-term average for the season to date.<\/p>\n