Dangerously cold weather returns to Philly this week

Grab your gloves, strap on your snow boots and hold on to your hats: After a recent number of days that saw warmer temperatures, bitter winter cold will return to Philly with a vengeance this week. To quote Philly rapper Freeway’s song “What We Do,” “It’s a cold winter, y’all better bundle up!”

With temperatures in the 50s last week, the weather was more reminscent of April than January. No such luck this week as temperatures on Tuesday are expected to plummet to bone-chilling single digits and windchills below zero degrees. 

Weather reports predict an 80 percent chance of precipitation including snowfall on Tuesday night and a low of seven degrees on Wednesday night, setting the stage for a rough week of wintry elements in the Philadelphia area.

Thursday will have a high of 16 degrees but projects to be sunny. Friday will be cloudy with a 20% chance of snow but the overall weekend should be fairly moderate.

Caring for city’s homeless in the cold

A night of temperatures below 20 degrees would send Code Blue into effect. Code Blue is declared when temperatures are dangerously low and requires city officials to help homeless people find available beds via shelters.

Code Blue also disallows people living in emergency housing from being evicted or having their housing terminated for as long as the dangerously cold weather lasts.

During a Code Blue, anyone who sees a homeless person on the streets in Philadelphia is urged to call Project H.O.M.E.’s outreach hotline at 215-232-1984.

Temperatures in the single digits on Wednesday are much more serious than they were on the same day last year, when temperatures were in the 30s for most of the day.

Fans look forward to heading out to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl need not worry: The National Weather Service predicts a mostly sunny day with a high of 43 degrees. Even though the Birds won’t be in the Big Game this year, it will still be a fairly nice winter day.

If this week is any indication, we still have much more tough winter weather to endure. Stay warm, stay inside, and stay updated on what has been a sometimes unpredictable season.