Skip to content
Weather
Link copied to clipboard

Forecasts: Rain and possible snow for Philly on Christmas

Overnight Sunday into Monday, "a period of snow is possible across much of the area," especially north and west of Interstate 95, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J., reported Thursday.

Rain falls on the glass entrance to SEPTA’s underground concourse at Dilworth Park by City Hall. TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Rain falls on the glass entrance to SEPTA’s underground concourse at Dilworth Park by City Hall. TOM GRALISH / Staff PhotographerRead moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Early forecasts see a wet and cold Christmas with rain and possible snow for the Philadelphia region.

Temperatures could reach a high of 60 in the city on Saturday before plunging into a frigid week between Monday and New Year's Day. The Jersey Shore will experience seasonable but slightly milder temperatures.

Overnight Sunday into Monday, "a period of snow is possible across much of the area," especially north and west of I-95, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly said Thursday. The morning precipitation is expected to taper off into dry but blustery conditions for the afternoon.

Eagles fans heading to Lincoln Financial Field for the 8:30 p.m.  game against the Oakland Raiders on Christmas should bundle up for bitter wind chills.

The weather service said "a significant snowfall is not expected at this time, but we will need to keep an eye on this, given the holiday travel concerns."

AAA predicts 107.3 million Americans will travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 1, with more than 90 percent driving. That will be the highest year-end travel volume on record and the ninth consecutive year of rising year-end travel, AAA said.

Friday mainly will be dry with warming temperatures with a chance for precipitation in the north, the weather service said.

Above-normal temperatures will peak on Saturday with some periods of rain. Snow elsewhere could affect travel out of Philadelphia.

Snow on Christmas is highly unusual in Philadelphia. From 1919 to 1960, for example, no snow was measured officially in the city.

However, a Christmas Eve storm in 1966 dumped a foot of snow — a record for Dec. 24 in Philadelphia.