Sunny and nearly 10 degrees above average in the Philadelphia region Sunday. Here's the full forecast.
Another beautiful, sunny and dry Saturday is in the books. Once again, we are trending cool overnight, with clear skies, light winds and lows in the 40s in the city, and 30s in the 'burbs.
Sunday brings us yet another sunny to mostly sunny day, with highs climbing above where they were Saturday. In fact, expect that most areas in the Delaware Valley get into the low to middle 70s, save for the higher elevations up in the Poconos. Monday will bring us much of the same, with highs approaching 80 degrees.
Tuesday we will be chasing the record high temperature of 83 set 104 years ago in 1920.
By Wednesday though, a cold front will swing through, and significantly knock our temperatures down some 20 degrees, back into the 60s where they belong this time of year.
The big story? The rain — or lack of it.
We desperately need rain, unfortunately, Wednesday's cold front brings nothing more than clouds as it passes overhead leaving us in a race for the longest dry streak in Philadelphia history. The current streak is 29 days set 150 years ago in the fall of 1874. The odds are good that we will break that record.
The increasingly dry conditions have created a moderate drought for most of southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and South Jersey. There is also an expanding area of severe drought in central South Jersey and conditions are likely to reach severe drought criteria in the near future prompting a drought watch for all of New Jersey. The last drought watch for the Garden State area was in 2022 and the last drought warning was in 2002.
This month we have seen no rain and since Sept. 1 we have only had 0.77" of rain leaving us a whopping 5.71" below average for the fall season. It has been 22 days since measurable rain has fallen on the Delaware Valley. If we continue this rainless streak until Monday, October 28 we will set a new record for the longest dry stretch in Philadelphia history.
These dry conditions coupled with unseasonably warm temperatures and low humidity have also created an elevated fire danger across the area. Residents are urged to limit the use of any outdoor flames.
Here's your 7-day forecast:
Sunday: Beautiful. High 76, Low 44.
Monday: Big warm-up. High 80, Low 46.
Tuesday: Chasing records. High 82, Low 53.
Wednesday: Sunny skies. High 79, Low 50.
Thursday: Back to fall. High 65, Low 58.
Friday: Cooler, sunny. High 63, Low 45.
Saturday: Seasonably cool. High 66, Low 45.
