The winter and snow predictions for Philadelphia are in! While the holiday season is underway in the city, many people are already looking ahead to winter. The coldest season of the year will officially begin December 21st, 2023. Indeed, many people are wondering what winter in Philly will look like this year and how much snow is expected to fall. Read on to find out!
What To Expect This Winter
This winter is going to look a lot different from last year. In fact, last winter was almost snowless! Accumulating snowfall only happened one time last winter when 0.3 of an inch fell in the city on Feb. 1. According to Accuweather, this is tied for second for the least-snowiest winter since reliable weather records in Philadelphia began in the 1880s.
However, this winter, Philly’s snow drought will come to an end.
Interestingly, it’s been over 600 days since Philadelphia measured at least an inch of snow. Since Jan. 28-29, 2022, the highest daily snowfall total has been less than half of an inch.
El Niño
This winter meteorologist will keep an eye on the current El Niño. As stated by The National Weather Service, El Nino is a natural climate phenomenon marked by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator, which occurs on average every 2-7 years.
Undoubtedly, depending on the location of the El Niño this can significantly alter atmospheric weather patterns across the U.S.
How Much Snow Will Philly Get?
While, the early part of winter looks to be mild and wet, late winter will give us our best chance of a wintry mix or snow.
AccuWeather is calling for 16-24 inches of snow in Philadelphia this year, right around the historical average of 23.1 inches.
Most of this snow is likely to fall during bigger storms rather than a series of smaller snow events.