More snow coming

John Bolaris has articles here and here about (ugh) snow in Philadelphia:

We finally caught a break this weekend, as temperatures soared into the forties and should crack fifty degrees on Sunday.
It was much needed, as January was the third snowiest of all-time. We picked up twenty-six inches, the all-time record was thirty-four inches in 1996, and the second snowiest was twenty-nine inches in 1918.
Well, February will pick up where January left off: more snow!
Breathe, take a couple of aspirins, pet the dog, and, remind yourself that Spring's a mere forty-eight days away.
Here's the early read on Monday's storm, a modified arctic front that will drape across our region overnight Sunday. At the same time a wave of low pressure (not a big storm) will carry a swath of Gulf of Mexico moisture and produce a possible band of four inches of snow, with a little more possible as atmospheric lifting enhances a tight snow band.
Where this tight snow band exactly sets up at this time is tricky, but latest indications would suggest right across Washington, D.C., and across Philly. The I-95 corridor has been the target zone this year.
A mix of rain and snow arrives overnight Monday. Monday morning rush: should see mix changing to all snow.
Monday, 10 am to 2 pm: best threat of the heaviest snow band developing, with roads becoming snow-covered, especially the secondary roads. Temperatures will be hovering just below freezing at this time. Accumulating snow ends after 2 pm. The precipitation moves out completely by no later than 4 pm. 

Snow totals
City: Moderate level threat (fifty to sixty percent) of reaching three to four inches. A low-moderate level threat (thirty to forty percent) of exceeding four inches. Same threat levels and amounts for eastern Montgomery and northwest Bucks counties.
In Chester and Delaware counties, four inches likely with a moderate level threat (fifty percent) of exceeding four inches.
Lehigh Valley: two to four inches, with a sharp cut-off in snow amounts to the north and west of the city.
Poconos: one to three inches
South Jersey: up to four inches, with a moderate level threat (fifty percent) chance of exceeding four inches.
Coastal Cape May and southeast Atlantic County: rain to mix ending as snow, accumulating one to three inches. Still very questionable on snow amounts along shore locations, as a quicker changeover would mean the higher end more likely. If prolonged mixing, then no more than an inch.
New Castle County, Delaware: up to four inches with a moderate threat level (fifty percent) of exceeding four inches.
South of Dover, Delaware: less than two inches.

Word spread like wildfire a few days ago when someone took to social media and posted a weather map that was indicating two to three feet of snow that would cut us off from civilization on the weekend of February 8th and 9th. Whoever posted it should be taken to the woodshed and smacked with frozen weather maps.
Now the blame doesn't totally hang on this person, as the source for these maps was a company named Weather Bell, which has maps that generate snow predictions by algorithms (calculations, automated reasoning) via a particular computer model.
The problem is that computer information being digested at the time can dramatically change, especially more than ten days out.
So someone who subscribes to get this information (non-meteorologist) sees this, says, Holy crap, look at this Armageddon, and posts it.
Before you can say pass the salt, it goes global, inducing weather hysteria, a sickness that is usually confined to your local television news directors (with massive outbreaks in February, November, May, the prime ratings periods.) You the viewer gets the backlash, as two inches of snow means fifteen reporters saying basically the same thing and, of course, wake up with us an extra thirty minutes early so we can help you safely navigate the storm.
Honestly, most don't care about your safety; they care about ratings which equate to higher rates in ad times, with the bottom line being money. Any anchor in the industry would tell you the same thing: it's an antiquated model.
Now getting back to this "megastorm," the question is: are we going to get nailed with it next weekend? As I've been looking over computer run after run, they continue to suggest that, yes, it's most likely that some sort of a storm will take place next weekend.
But they have been waffling, with wild swings of positioning, intensity, and tracks. Some runs show mainly a liquid event, others suggest a mix to snow, and others all snow. Others indicate storm super-intensity and two storms; with one rain, then snow on its heels.
The bottom line: all the computer models are having difficulties with timing. Models are still quite distant from one run to the next. Until I see models trending toward one solution, one must simply wait a bit longer for any real responsible forecast.
The models should start to narrow between storms Monday (previously discussed) and Wednesday. We could see some freezing rain problems come Wednesday morning before we see a changeover to all rain, which could be heavy at times.
Icing could be a significant problem, especially north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike through the morning.
So, in summary, the verdict is stilll out on next weekend's potential storm. Let's first get through the first two.

Rico says he loathes the white stuff, and doesn't need freezing rain on Wednesday, when he goes out...