Cecily Tynan (meteorologist for 6ABC) had a segment during the coverage of US1702 on last night's 11 PM broadcast. She said that during the time window for the event the winds were cross-winds coming from NNW-ish and were more of a cross-wind rather than a headwind for 27L.

She outlined the maximum cross-wind rating for A320 takeoff and that the limits were well above actual conditions, including maximum gusts during the 6 PM - 7 PM window. (This is why I watched that channel - it was actual journalism with research and data, not just reading Twitter posts on the air.)

I arrived about 90 minutes before this event and the pilot had a heck of a time keeping the CRJ200 wings level on approach with all the gusting. It was certainly not an easy day to fly at PHL yesterday.