As noted in our online story, in the morning forecast discussion the National Weather Service in Mount Holly said the region might experience a "skiff of snow."
Never mind that a "skiff" is a small boat; we give props to the author, Walter Drag, for invoking what poet Robert Frost called the "sound of sense."
We can't find "skiff" in any meteorological dictionary, but we get the drift.
The weather service is saying that a small accumulation of snow - not a boatload - could just be enough to meet the 0.1 inch "measurable" threshold in the elevated sections of Philly to the neighboring counties late tonight and early tomorrow.
The official measuring station in National Park, across the river, isn't in the measurable zone, but is tantalizingly close.
As we mentioned, if the National Park ruler shows 0.1 inch or more, that would constitute a rarity.
In 130 years of recordkeeping, we found only seven cases of measureable snow officially in Philadelphia during the first two weeks of November.
They are as follows:
11-6-7, 1953, 8.8 inches.
11-11-1987, 1.3
11-8-1892, 0.8
11-14-1908, 0.7
11-12-1968, 0.4
11-8-1927, 0.3
11-13-1904, 0.2