Honestly, if you looked out your window this morning and thought we were in for a "classic" winter wonderland, Philadelphia is currently proving you half-right and half-wrong. We've spent most of the day under a Winter Weather Advisory that felt more like a slush-fest for the I-95 corridor, but as we move into the evening, things are taking a sharper, colder turn.
Basically, the "slushy" phase is over.
Philadelphia Weather Today Hourly: The Evening Freeze
As of 8:15 PM, the temperature in Philadelphia has hit 29°F, and it feels significantly colder—closer to 19°F thanks to a 10 mph wind coming out of the northwest. You've probably noticed the light snow is still coming down, but the National Weather Service has the advisory set to expire right about now.
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If you're looking at the hour-by-hour transition, here is the breakdown of what the city is actually facing tonight:
- 9:00 PM: Temperatures hold around 29°F with a tiny 2% chance of lingering flakes. The wind is the real story here, making it feel like the teens.
- 10:00 PM: We drop to 28°F. Cloud cover starts to thin out, which is usually good news, except it allows all that heat to escape.
- Midnight: We're looking at 26°F. Any "untreated surfaces"—the fancy weather term for your sidewalk and the street in front of your house—are going to be solid ice.
- Pre-dawn (3:00 AM - 5:00 AM): This is when it gets brutal. We’re bottoming out at a low of 20°F (some local spots might even see 19°F).
The Slush-to-Ice Problem
What really happened with the weather today was a classic coastal brush. Earlier, we saw a mix of rain and snow because the "warm" air from the Atlantic was fighting the cold air over the city. Now that the sun is down and the system is pulling away, the cold air won.
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The humidity is sitting at 86%, which is incredibly high for a freeze. That moisture isn't just in the air; it’s sitting on the roads. Because the high today only reached 33°F, nothing really had a chance to dry out.
Why the Monday Morning Commute Matters
Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While many schools and offices are closed, if you have to be on the Schuylkill or the Blue Route early, don't trust the pavement. Even though the forecast for Monday shows a "high" of 37°F with some sunshine, the early morning hours will be stuck in that 20°F danger zone.
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We saw about 1 to 3 inches of total accumulation across the region today, depending on whether you're in Center City or out toward the suburbs like Upper Montgomery or Bucks County. In the city proper, it was mostly on the lower end of that scale, but the freezing of the slush is what makes tonight's Philadelphia weather today hourly update so critical for local drivers.
Actionable Steps for Tonight
- Salt now, not later: If you haven't put down ice melt, do it before the clock hits 10:00 PM. Once the temps drop toward 25°F, standard rock salt loses some of its "oomph" compared to calcium chloride.
- Watch the wind: With northwest winds at 10 mph, any wet branches weighed down by the heavy, wet snow could snap.
- Check your tires: Seriously. The pressure drops when the temperature tanks. You'll likely see that annoying little horseshoe light on your dashboard tomorrow morning.
- Clear the tailpipe: If you're shoveling out a car tonight, make sure the exhaust pipe is clear of snow banks before you start the engine to defrost the windshield.
The system is moving out, and the "Winter Weather Advisory" is technically wrapping up, but the "Deep Freeze" part of the story is just starting.