Weather columnist: A major winter storm could bring up to a foot of snow to campus on Monday and Tuesday

A major winter storm is predicted to roll into Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday.

Over the last few days, the weather community in the American Northeast has tracked the storm, which could bring the largest snowfall Penn has seen yet this year. 

The global computer models that meteorologists use to track these sort of storms are in strong agreement over the possibility of a large nor’easter that will likely bring heavy snow to campus. Two pieces of energy, one coming out of the Plains and the other from the Gulf of Mexico, will track towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina and proceed to move up the East Coast. The storm’s final track still has yet to be locked down, but it looks like Philadelphia will be on the southern fringe of the heaviest snow.

The system will likely move in late on Monday night and continue through late morning or early afternoon on Tuesday. However, some of the computer guidance suggests that the storm could last longer into Tuesday afternoon.

As it stands now, I expect campus to see eight to 12 inches of snow from the storm with the largest quantities falling on Tuesday morning. However, the possibility exists that more than a foot of snow could be on the ground by Tuesday evening.

Given the large scale of the storm system as well as the timing, travel will become dangerous to nearly impossible for the Tuesday morning commute. The combination of heavy snow and gusty winds throughout the day on Tuesday will pose a serious threat to travel plans, especially if they don’t include sledding down Locust Walk.

ELYAS TECLE is a weather columnist for the DP and a College sophomore from Philadelphia studying International Relations. He is interested in meteorology, and founded a social media organization dedicated to weather forecasting called Delaware Valley Weather.