Snow: Inches possible in area

Officially, winter's still a couple of weeks away, but another early blast could dump significant snow in parts of the Philadelphia region by Thursday morning.

The northern and western suburbs could get an inch, with three to six inches possible up into the Lehigh Valley, the Poconos and northwest North Jersey, with the highest amounts in higher elevations, according to the National Weather Service.

"More of a nuisance type of storm," this system could drop snow from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore to New York and Boston, according to AccuWeather.com.

The timing and amounts suggest delays, or even some closings, might be possible Thursday morning at some Eastern Pennyslvania schools. Temperatures, though, should only flirt with freezing during the storm, then rise into the 40s under sunny skies on Thursday.

Even Philadelphia might get a little wet snow overnight after an inch or two of rainfall starting Wednesday afternoon, according to meteorologist Jim Poirier of the weather service's Mount Holly office.

With the storm following periods of light rain today, the city's biggest concern might be some localized flooding, he said.

Northern and western suburbs might see rain, then a rain-snow mix, before a change to just snow, Poirier said.

South Jersey is likely to get only rain.

The storm could also bring a bit of windiness, raising worries about power outages. But this situation doesn't compare to the heavy snow that fell Oct. 29 and caused lasting outages for hundreds of thousands in Eastern Pennsylvania and North Jersey. In that storm, leaves were still on trees as more than a foot of snow fell in some areas.

Snow predictions are always tricky, so expect forecasters to have a better idea Wednesday morning, Poirier said.

For more on the forecast, go to http://go.philly.com/weather, and the type in the name of a town or a zip code to change the location.