Philadelphia weather: Monday starts mild before multiple chances for rain throughout the week
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The unseasonably mild temperatures will continue through the week ahead, but an unsettled weather pattern will keep the chance of rain around almost every single day.
Unseasonably warm Sunday
Before we dig into the rainy details for the week ahead, let's pause for a moment just to appreciate how great of a day Sunday was. Philadelphia International Airport recorded a high temperature of 66 degrees, a good 18 degrees warmer than normal. For March 3, 66 degrees with abundant sunshine is almost unheard of.
In fact, since records began in 1872, there have only been two years where the high temperature on March 3 in Philadelphia was warmer, and that was in 1923 and 1991. Ironically, in both of those years the high temperature was 73 degrees, which stands as the record high temperature for March 3.
Looking at the week ahead
Back to the week ahead of us. For the most part, Monday will turn out to be a decent day. While it won't be nearly as sunny or as warm as Sunday, temperatures will start in the mid-upper 40s and make their way into the low 60s Monday afternoon.
Some areas of fog early Monday morning will give way to mostly cloudy skies through the afternoon. Even with the cloud cover, temperatures will peak around 15 degrees above normal.
A low-pressure system developing off the Carolina coast will track north through the day Monday and begin to introduce the chance of rain to the region after sunset. The chance of rain will increase overnight Monday into Tuesday morning to bring a messy morning commute.
By Tuesday afternoon, the low-pressure system will exit the region to the northeast, and the chance for rain will gradually taper off.
Tuesday night into Wednesday should be mainly dry, but a second low-pressure system will begin to develop out of the northern Gulf of Mexico and track northeast through the day on Wednesday.
By Wednesday night, rain will again spread north into the Philadelphia area. As the low-pressure system tracks generally to our south, the chance of rain will likely stick around Wednesday night through most of the day on Thursday. At this time the chance of rain Thursday doesn't look like it will start to taper off until after sunset.
There is a little bit of a concern for flooding by this second system because it will arrive quickly on the heels of the first storm system Monday night into Tuesday. The Weather Prediction Center has already highlighted portions of the area as a Marginal Risk for Flash Flooding Wednesday into Thursday morning.
As if two storm systems in one week isn't enough, the CBS Philadelphia NEXT Weather Team is already tracking a third storm system that will start to take shape out of the Midwest through the day on Saturday.
There remains some uncertainty in exactly how this storm system will take shape, but it advertises another round of rain moving into the Philadelphia area late in the day Saturday. Indications are that this system could slow down as it moves east which could potentially mean the chance of rain for Philadelphia through most of the day Sunday.
Regardless of the exact timing of each of these systems, there will be a growing concern for flooding toward the end of the week and into the following week as each system brings more rain on top of already saturated ground.
By next weekend, some locations may pick up a total of 3-4 inches of rain
Continue to check back with CBS Philadelphia and the NEXT Weather Team as our meteorologists track each of these systems and how they will impact our area.
7-day forecast
Monday: High of 64, warm, clouding up
Tuesday: High of 54, low of 45, morning showers
Wednesday: High of 59, low of 44, AM clouds, PM rain
Thursday: High of 55, low of 50, rain early
Friday: High of 55, low of 40, some sun
Saturday: High of 52. low of 41, showers return
Sunday: High of 54, low of 44, clearing, windy
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