'Dangerous' cold hits Bucks County before wintry mix arrives Sunday
Bucks and Montgomery County residents began their weekend with frigid temperatures and an eye to the forecast as a wintry mix threatened the Martin Luth King holiday weekend.
By noon Saturday, it was only about 18 degrees in the Delaware Valley and the high temperature was only due to rise to about 25 degrees. But, in a winter of wild temperature swings, Sunday's forecast called for 45 degrees.
Sarah Johnson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, called the low temps on Friday and Saturday "dangerously cold weather," with temperatures reaching the lower teens or single digits Friday night through Saturday night.
“With the wind it’s going to feel like near or below zero Fahrenheit,” she said.
An arctic cold front brought the cold air and wind into the area Friday and Saturday, she said.
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Another system coming from the southeast will bring warmer air and precipitation into the area Sunday. Johnson said snow is expected to fall sometime Sunday evening before changing into a wintry mix.
"A mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain is expected late Sunday afternoon and evening before changing to rain Sunday night," the NWS forecast briefing read Saturday morning for the Interstate 95 corridor. "A coating to 2 inches of snow and ice up to 0.1” are possible. Roads may become briefly slick before temperatures warm above freezing."
She estimated about 2 to 4 inches of snow will fall Sunday night, with estimates being a little higher toward the Upper Bucks County area. However, the wintry mix is expected to turn into rain Monday morning.
“Any snow that does accumulate probably won’t last very long," she said, adding that the rain will likely wash it away.
Johnson urged residents to stay inside and bundle up if they should go outside Friday or Saturday.
“It’s going to be very cold," she said.
On Friday afternoon, Bucks County issued a Code Blue, which activated three shelters in the county for those who need them. The shelters will be open throughout the weekend.
In Upper Bucks, the shelter at Quakertown Masonic Lodge at 501 W. Broad Street is open. Doors will be open at 8:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. It will be open Friday through Sunday.
The Central Bucks shelter is at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 5194 Cold Spring Creamery Road, Doylestown, and will be open at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The Lower Bucks Shelter is Woodside Church at 1667 Edgewood Road, Yardley. Doors open at 8:30 p.m.
For more information, https://www.ahtn.org/ or https://www.co2ssh.org/.
While much of the focus is on the Sun/Mon system, note that before we get to that, dangerously cold conditions are expected tonight through Saturday night. Please bundle up if you are going outside! #PAWX #NJWX #DEWX #MDWX pic.twitter.com/RGGTjRXWWL
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 14, 2022
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County weather: Frigid temps, wintry mix this weekend
