Philadelphia weather feeling like summer as season kicks off with heat alerts
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Thursday is another day with hot weather as a heat wave that settled in Monday continues for a fourth day around the Philadelphia region.
While there is a nice southwest breeze, the dew point and humidity levels are high, creating a sticky, muggy feeling. It'll make the high of 94 feel closer to 100 at the height of Thursday's heat.
As we've been saying all week, watch for the signs of heat exhaustion, stay hydrated and listen to your body. We have more tips from experts on how to stay cool in the link above and in the video below.
The Philadelphia region is under a heat advisory through Friday and the city of Philadelphia has activated its heat health emergency starting 8 a.m. Thursday.
This means cooling centers will be open and the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging's Heatline (215-765-9040) will be active to connect seniors to city resources. More details at the link above.
When is the first day and start of summer?
The 2024 summer solstice officially takes place at 4:51 p.m. today, Thursday, June 20.
What does that mean? It means the sun is traveling its longest path through the sky in the Northern Hemisphere all year.
We're at the peak with the most minutes of sunlight - about 900 minutes, or 15 hours - for the whole year, and the days will start to get shorter from here.
And, we will have sunsets after 8:30 p.m. until July, though the amount of daylight will shrink slowly as sunrise starts to get later.
Philadelphia, Pa. weather on June 20, 2024 and beyond
High temperatures settle in the middle 90s Thursday before making a run for the upper 90s Friday afternoon. Forecast models have turned down the intensity of the heat through the weekend, but it is still potentially record-breaking.
The duration of the heat wave looks to extend through at least early next week.
There's a chance that after a slight dip in temperature through early next week temperature might climb back into the middle 90s again by mid-late next week.
As for rain and storm chances, the heat dome keeps us dry through Friday, with only a slight chance of a showers Friday and Saturday.
Those showers if we get them could bring some relief and prevent us from getting temperatures in the 99-100 degree range.
More chances of showers are possible on Sunday.
Here's your 7-day forecast:
Thursday: NEXT Weather Alert for heat. High 94
Friday: NEXT Weather Alert for heat. High 98, Low 73
Saturday: NEXT Weather Alert for heat. High 98, Low 75
Sunday: NEXT Weather Alert for heat. High 99, Low 76
Monday: Still hot. High 91, Low 77
Tuesday: Still hot. High 91, Low 69
Wednesday: See above. High 96, Low 69