Snow, cold, and normality
Temperatures right about where they should be through a Dec. 15.
That wind chill out there feels particularly harsh because a/it is, and b/we are not used to this.
Through the first 15 days of last December, the Philadelphia temperature averaged a balmy 51.5 degrees.
By day's end, the comparable figure for 2016 is going to be about 40, which would be almost dead-on normal for the period.
As for the snow, assuming something measurable falls before midnight Friday, that also would be shockingly normal.
The long-term average for the first measurable snow in the 130 years of recordkeeping is Dec. 11.
Unquestionably, it is cold out there, and tomorrow is shaping up to be among the top 10 coldest Dec. 16s on record.
But it is December, and the solstice is just a week away.