Fox 29 Strikes First With Silly Philadelphia Winter Weather Report
Plus, a downright warm Philly Halloween.
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Fox 29 Strikes First in Silly Philadelphia Winter Weather Report Battle
It's still October. We're expected to hit 80 degrees this week. And yet, Fox 29 meteorologists Drew Anderson and Kathy Orr just couldn't refrain from bringing viewers their long-range Philadelphia winter weather forecast for 2024-'25. This is known colloquially as the "how much snow will Philadelphia get this winter?" report. It happened on Monday. The dynamic weather duo delivered a more than 20-minute "Winter Weather Outlook" special with much glee.
If it seems a little early to air a winter weather forecast for Philadelphia, that's because it is. We all know that these winter weather forecasts are a load of crap. (Let us recall that former NBC 10 meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz, the person who pioneered the long-range winter forecasts in the Philadelphia market, abandoned them in 2020, basically because he came to realize they had, indeed, become a load of crap thanks to the changing climate.) But at least Cecily Tynan and Adam Joseph have the decency to wait until mid-November, still more than a month before actual, ya know, winter. Mid-November is when they normally give us their predictions for what will happen as much as four months in the future.
Alas, Fox 29 just couldn't hold out for a more civilized timeframe. Over the span of, yes, 20 minutes, Anderson and Orr trotted out no shortage of wintry videos, fancy-sounding terminology, and oh-so-scientific looking charts, maps and graphs.
So what do our snow soothsayers say about this coming winter? January will be the coldest month. (Shocking, since that tends to be the case every year.) Residents should expect five instances of panic shopping at the Ack-a-me. Anderson says there will be two "big" snowstorms. And the grand total of snow in Philadelphia for this coming winter? Orr and Anderson say we will get 17 inches of snow, which is six inches more than Philadelphia saw last winter.
Here's the full Fox 29 "Winter Weather Outlook" report:
An Important Deadline
Tuesday is the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot in Pennsylvania. More specifically: your mail-in ballot application must be received by your county election office or a satellite election office by Tuesday at 5 p.m. If you're seeing this after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, don't worry. You can just vote the old-fashioned way next Tuesday: At the polls.
About Them Eagles...
Former President Barrack Obama once again proved he's no dummy when he took to the stage in North Philly on Monday night in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. One of the first things out of the mouth of the big Chicago Bears (ugh) fan was acknowledging that the Eagles "looked good" on Sunday. You can read his full remarks to the crowd here . As for Bruce Springsteen, who also appeared? He did a three-song acoustic set and closed out with a stripped-down version of "Dancing In the Dark".
Trump's Growing Pennsylvania Problems
I've written before about Donald Trump's various problems in Pennsylvania , suggesting he should probably just stay out of Pennsylvania for his own good. And now we can add another Pennsylvania problem to Trump's various problems: Pennsylvania's Puerto Rican and other Latino voters, in light of the thoroughly unfunny anti-Puerto Rico "joke" a featured speaker made at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend. Our friends at Politico have this in-depth report about how the fallout from the remark is "spreading like wildfire" in our pivotal state. Still, Trump isn't staying out of Pennsylvania. Far from it. On the Trump schedule for Tuesday: a "discussion" event in Drexel Hill followed by a rally in the middle of a Latino neighborhood in Allentown.
By the Numbers: The Weather Edition
Forecasted high temperature for Thursday, a.k.a. Halloween. I don't think it will be long before some meteorologist makes a sad trombone-worthy "trick-or-heat" joke.
Forecasted high for Atlantic City and Cape May this Thursday. 78 in LBI ! Thursday is what I call one of those "How many sick days do I have left again?" days.
Consecutive days with no measurable rainfall in Philadelphia as of Monday night. That means we just broke a 150-year-old record . Yay us?
