Warmer Thursday in Philadelphia region with morning showers, tracking Helene's path
Another gray day is expected on Thursday, but temperatures will be much warmer with upper 70s and low 80s expected around the Philadelphia region. Humidity levels will be noticeably higher as a warm front lifts through the area.
This will bring another round of scattered showers that could add some much-needed rain to the bucket, though it's likely not going to amount to much. Skies will stay cloudy to mostly cloudy all day.
Friday looks to stay quiet as well, though it remains mostly cloudy. Starting late Friday or Friday night, we'll likely be in for some rainfall from Hurricane Helene.
As of Thursday morning, Helene is moving through the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which will help Helene strengthen rapidly into a Major Category 3 hurricane before likely making landfall by Thursday evening around the Big Bend area of Florida over Apalachee Bay.
Helene is then forecast to drift west toward the Mississippi Valley, but outer bands of clouds and showers will likely lift far enough north to impact our area by Friday night into Saturday morning.
As the storm stalls over the mid-South, we may dry out for some of the weekend, but we'll have to closely watch the path of the remnant low as it eventually drifts back east. It could bring more shower chances to our area through the early part of next week.
The NEXT Weather team will continue to monitor this storm as well as any other chance of rain through the week to help you plan for any potential impacts.
Here's your 7-day forecast:
Thursday: High of 81, low of 67, clouds, warm
Friday: High of 76, low of 69, mostly cloudy
Saturday: High of 75, low of 68, bands of showers
Sunday: High of 71, low of 64, mostly cloudy
Monday: High of 71, low of 61, a few showers
Tuesday: High of 74, low of 62, cloudy
Wednesday: High of 70, low of 57, shower possible