Bitter Cold Air Takes Over Region, Then Some Snow

A large storm is taking shape over the Gulf of Mexico and will track across the Southeast and eventually towards Philly this week.

The question is if the storm will bring mostly snow or mostly rain to the Philadelphia region.

It certainly felt like it was cold enough to snow Monday morning as temps dipped in single digits but the pending storm will bring up a lot of warm air as it moves north.

If it stays far enough south then there will just be some light snow, but the farther north it goes, the snow will mix with rain. Cold air comes in behind the storm Wednesday night into Thursday and that could change the rain back to snow.

An arctic blast from Canada is responsible for some of the frigid temperatures in the northern U.S. and some of the coldest air to hit the Northeast in two years.

Philly extended an alert issued Thursday that gives officials the power to go out onto the streets and bring in homeless people to shelters because the weather conditions pose a threat of serious harm or death.

The cold was linked to at least two deaths in the Northeast, including that of a Connecticut woman whose frozen body was found in a driveway.

About 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, a man died after spending the night in his car in frigid temperatures in Lansford, and his wife found him Saturday morning. Temperatures had dropped into the single digits overnight, Lansford police Detective Jack Soberick said, but it's unclear why 49-year-old Alan Kurtz had slept in his car.


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