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Bolaris: Storm to boost Philly's 54.8 in. of snow

A person removes snow from a car in the Philadelphia suburb of Wynnewood, Pa. Friday, Feb. 14, 2014. Commuters faced slick, slush-covered roads on Friday after yet another winter storm brought snow and ice to the East Coast, leaving at least 21 people dead. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
A person removes snow from a car in the Philadelphia suburb of Wynnewood, Pa. Friday, Feb. 14, 2014. Commuters faced slick, slush-covered roads on Friday after yet another winter storm brought snow and ice to the East Coast, leaving at least 21 people dead. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)Read moreAP
    by John Bolaris, For Philly.com
    Published 

Some time has passed since we were blasted with anywhere from 10 inches to more than 20 inches of snow, not to mention the flooding rain. It's now officially the fifth snowiest winter of all time in Philadelphia. Officially, we added 11.5 inches of snow with the latest storm - raising the winter's grand total to 54.8 inches.

The next snow threat will arrive on Saturday.

Set-up

This one's yet another in a never-ending series of energy bundles diving south and east in a very deep and charged-up East Coast trough, or alley of low pressure which enhances storm formation and rides it near the Atlantic coast.

A major storm will deepen off the North Carolina coast first thing Saturday morning and then move northeastward to a position east of Long Island by Saturday night.

As it stands now, the storm should remain far enough off shore not to bury us with any heavy snow. Right now it looks like eastern Long Island and across Boston and the Capes should get hammered with at least a foot of snow.

Philadelphia will be in between the intensifying storm off the coast and an energy lift moving across south-central Pennsylvania.

All this means we will get some snow, but as it stands now, the band to the west will give Berks County, Reading, Lancaster, and perhaps western Chester County between 2-4 inches of snow. Points northeast across northern Ocean County into Monmouth County in New Jersey should also see 2-4 inches of snow.

For Philadelphia and most of the remaining portions of the Delaware Valley, we're - looking at 1-3 inches as a rule.

Timing

The snow comes in early Saturday morning, and could be mixed with rain for a time until mid-day before changing over to snow and ending by early evening.

Sunday and Monday: Dry.

We are not totally out of the woods as any storm deepening off the Mid-Atlantic coast (especially this winter season) leads to forecasting trepidation .

I will watch it closely and provide the needed updates through the weekend.

Stay tuned

John Bolaris