There was still quite a bit of uncertainty Thursday morning in the track of a storm that would be impacting Berks County and southeastern Pennsylvania within 36 hours.
“The model volatility with this system has been something to behold,” the meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, N.J., said Thursday morning.
One certainty is that the East Coast from Virginia north will be hit, and harder northward as the storm intensifies and hammers New England with blizzard conditions on Saturday and Saturday night.
But for Berks and the region, even AccuWeather is still unsure: “The scope of the western and northern extent of the heavy snow and blizzard conditions is highly dependent on the track and intensity of the storm, which can potentially cause big differences in impacts.
“Should the storm jog as little as 50 miles farther to the west than currently projected, the 3- to 6-inch snow accumulations predicted in the zone from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., and the 6-12 inches forecast from New York City to Ocean City, Maryland, could be doubled.”
AccuWeather’s best forecast Thursday morning was for Berks to get 1 to 3 inches for the entire storm.
Winter storm watches have been issued for most of New Jersey and Philadelphia, Delaware and southern Bucks counties.
The weather service added: “Winds will be a big factor with this storm, with north winds of 10 to 20 mph becoming northwest 15 to 25 mph on Saturday. Gusts of 30
to 40 mph will be common, with higher gusts possible (especially near the coast and in the higher elevations).”
Expect sunny and cold conditions Thursday with the mercury peaking near the freezing mark. Then the clouds are forecast to roll in Friday, with the chances for snow showers growing by the hour.
Whatever the result, after the storm passes, clearing conditions are likely Saturday night with a low in the midteens by daybreak Sunday leading into another subfreezing day.
A warming trend is likely for the workweek with low 50s possible for a daytime high by next Thursday.
The temperature bottomed out at 10 degrees on Thursday morning at Reading Regional Airport, the official weather service site in Berks. Many areas of Berks saw single digits.
There have been two single-digit mornings this month at the airport, and seven days that the temperature didn’t get to the freezing mark.
Source: Berkshire mont