A flood watch — yes, another one — is in effect for the entire Philly region Thursday
As much as 5 inches of rain could fall in "isolated" areas, the weather service says.
It’s been a while, about a week actually, but another flood watch is up for the entire Philly region for Thursday.
After a couple of uncharacteristically pleasant days, pulses of moisture are due to return, and the National Weather Service is warning that as much as three to five inches of rain could fall in “isolated” areas into Thursday night.
The flood watch is in effect for the city and the seven neighboring counties from noon Thursday to 4 a.m. Friday, with rain-repelling high pressure moving offshore and a warm front migrating northward.
Said Cody Snell, meteorologist with the national Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md., “It’s a pretty typical pattern that we’ve seen before this summer.”
Indeed.
Updated computer model runs were suggesting that the atmosphere would not only be moist but charged with energy, the weather service in Mount Holly said Wednesday afternoon.
The federal Storm Prediction Center, in Norman, Okla., listed a 15% chance of severe storms, those with wind gusts approaching 60 mph, along the I-95 corridor. At least it made no mention of possible tornadoes — yet.
What might the storms hit the Philly region?
A shower or even a “downpour” is possible around daybreak, said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.
However, he said that would be an hors d’oeuvre, with likeliest window for the main events between 2 and 8 p.m.
The sun is likely to appear after the morning rain shuts off, he said, and that would “help destabilize the atmosphere,” adding a kick to potential thunderstorms.
He expected a midafternoon round, followed by an encore in the evening.
What areas are likeliest to see flooding or severe storms?
For severe weather, all of southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey areas along the Delaware River are in the storm center’s highest risk zone, which extends from the Maryland/Virginia border to upstate New York.
Along the Delaware River, Snell said, “there’s a little bit of signal for training thunderstorms.” Those are the kind to develop and not move, the kind that can wring out three to five inches.
“The biggest threat is flash flooding,” said AccuWeather’s Deger, with the higher potential in Philly and areas west of the Delaware.
He said the west-to-east moving storms may run out of steam by the time they get to Jersey.
However, any rains are likely to cause trouble, he said.
“Our ground can’t handle much more at this point,” said Deger, who lives in the Quakertown area and has seen the harvests of the downpours in his back yard.
“I’m mowing every four days,” he said.
