Winter Weather Advisory issued for parts of Delaware Valley

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect until 11 a.m. for western Chester, upper Montgomery and upper Bucks counties, and until 1 p.m. for Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Monroe counties.

Light precipitation arrives this morning and it could be slick at first, especially north and west.

The rain picks up later this morning and turns heavy at times with over an inch of rain coming our way later this evening.

Winds will be up to 50mph inland and 60mph near the coast, which is enough to bring the threat of power outages. We could even hear the rumble of thunder.

Our high is 48 and temperatures rise slightly overnight.

Across parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes this will be a blizzard, bringing air and road travel to a halt.

During the overnight, we will have a strengthening low-level jet moving overhead with winds over hurricane force at just 5,000 feet above the surface.

At the same time, models are indicating some elevated instability with that wave as it lifts over us. If we are able to bring down any of those really strong winds in heavy rain or weak convection it could lead to power outages or some trees down.

This is a very dynamic system. Friday morning we start in the mid-50s. Just after lunch, it will be near freezing, and by the evening commute, it will be in the low 20s followed by teens for early evening.

This is a true arctic front and a flash freeze is now seeming likely. The last 15 minutes or so of precip could be a wintry mix or snow right before anything wet freezes solid.

Travel on Friday evening’s commute could be hazardous, especially on any back roads that aren’t treated.

The forecast through the weekend

• Christmas Eve: Bitterly cold with intervals of clouds and sun, high 21. When you factor in the winds it will feel like it’s below zero in the morning and just the single digits all day.
• Christmas Day: Brisk and cold under mostly sunny skies, high 25 with wind chills in the teens.
• Monday: Partly sunny and remaining cold, but not as harsh, high 30.
• Tuesday: Clouds, some sun, high 31.
• Wednesday: Partly sunny, high 40.