This month is shaping up as not only our first month of below average temperatures since August of last year but it's also shaping up as potentially the coldest November since the late 1990's.  Before you fret and wonder if this is the beginning of a long, cold winter of discontent, November is not necessarily a harbinger of what winter will bring as several cold Novembers have been followed by warm winters historically (2007, 1997, 1996 to name three over the last couple of decades).  This November will close out on the same chilled note that it began on as temperatures for the balance of the month will average out a few degrees below normal.

Included in that chill this week is the potential for some light snow on Tuesday in the region. At this point, it looks likely that precipitation falls mainly in the form of snow across Southeastern Pennsylvania as temperatures aloft will be just cool enough (barely) to support a mostly frozen event.  The rain/snow line sets up across South Jersey and along the Delaware River just to the city's south.   Precipitation looks to be pretty modest in terms of how much actually falls from the sky so a winter storm this is not.  Accumulations of a couple of inches of snow look likely across the elevated areas of the city, with lower accumulations possible down by the Airport.  I do have a mix of rain thrown in the forecast since it's possible some of the snow *could* mix with rain closer to I-95.

After Tuesday's modest snowfall, temperatures do moderate this weekend towards 50 on Saturday and into the 50's on Sunday as the cold pattern over us relaxes and a warm push of air nudges in ahead of a reinforcing cold front that crosses us for early next week.

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Tom Thunstrom is the editor and publisher of Phillyweather.net. You can also follow Phillyweather.net on twitter @phillywx or on Facebook.