Weather: Spring's Warmth on the Way?

Our region wrapped up its fourth warmest winter since 1872 last Wednesday with a chilly rain that even included some sleet.  Thankfully, the robins are chirping and grass is slowly turning greener, and it should mean spring is right around the corner, right?

As nature has shown many times, that transition from chill to warmth is rather painful and drastic. This week will feature another yo-yo in temperatures, but in the end the potential exists for the warmest day of 2012 so far on Thursday.

Our warmest day to date was February 1st, with highs that reached 63 in Pottstown, 64 in Blue Bell, and 67 in Philadelphia.  With a warm southwest breeze ahead of a cold front that approaches Thursday night into Friday, temperatures should make a run into the mid 60's in the suburbs and perhaps warmer if we have a full dose of sunshine. 70's in early March are not unusual -- we reached this plateau just three years ago on March 7th, 2009 and just a week after a snowstorm had dropped several inches of snow.

Spring is, truthfully, the cruelest season and its weather is not only fickle, but wild. This week proves no exception.

Our weather week starts out cold, with lows around 20 degrees on Tuesday morning and cool highs in the lower and middle 40's on Monday and Tuesday. However, we will warm as the cold high moves off the coast and those warm breezes commence for Wednesday (near 60 for a high) and Thursday (the push to 65 or warmer).  

However, a cold front reaches the region early Friday may stall nearby.  If that does occur, the stalled front will bring showers and drizzle to the region for both Friday and Saturday.  Some guidance has suggested the front clears quickly through on Friday and we have a seasonably cool weekend...that's just one option on the table but if that does happen we'll have cooler temperatures and sunshine.

Regardless of outcome, another temperature roller coaster does commence for the early half of this week, typical of our winter season, but a bit warmer as those signs of Spring begin to manifest themselves!

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Tom Thunstrom is the editor and publisher of Phillyweather.net. You can follow the site on twitter _@phillywx._