Philadelphia Weather: Weekend Brings Coldest Day In Philly So Far This Season As Warm-Up On The Way
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - With the temperatures in the Poconos Sunday, as well as this morning, dipping down to 32 degrees and there having been a frost that formed, the National Weather Service has come out and stated the "growing season" is now over in Carbon and Monroe Counties. This means that the NWS Office in Mt. Holly will no longer be issuing frost or freeze alerts for those counties.
First, Allentown broke record low temperatures Sunday and Monday morning. Sunday's low of 36 broke the old record of 37 in 1993. Monday's low of 33 broke the old record of 34 in 1956. Reading also tied a record low Monday morning of 38, which was last set in 1956.
The high in Philly was 66 degrees and Saturday and Sunday. That was the coldest afternoon so far this season. Typically we see our first high of 66 or lower on Sept. 17 and this year it was on Sept. 19, so pretty much right on par for our first cool down of the early fall. We don't regularly see highs in the mid-60s in Philly until the middle of October though.
As for the end of week warm-up, this is not too atypical either. On average we see highs of 81 degrees or even warmer until the beginning of October. Typically the last day of a high of 81 or more in Philly is Oct. 4. This means the forecast highs of 80/81 on Thursday and Friday are not really all that out of the ordinary for this time of the year.
Finally, the current forecast from the Climate Prediction Center for the rest of September, October and November has a 40% chance of above-normal temperatures. This means that the CPC thinks the fall should be warmer than we typically see, but these forecasts do not specify how much warmer than average.
It's hard to get historical averages for the first day of fall since it is not the same day every year and the NWS does not have an easy to navigate database for the first day of season temperatures and precipitation. However, the average high for all Meteo Fall (September-November) is in the mid-60s. So the CPC outlook is basically saying we have about a 40% chance to have temperatures warmer than the middle 60s throughout the whole fall season.
