The Philly region is under another flood watch
But it looks like drought will be stronger than the storms.
The enire Philly region is under a rinse-and-repeat flood watch Thursday for yet another round of downpours.
But the rain lately has been random, and these storms once again are likely to be hit and miss.
“It looks like that’s going to be the case,” said Joseph DeSilva, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, which has the watch in effect until 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
Despite those rains earlier this week — close to 4.4 inches in Camden — in the weekly inter-agency U.S. Drought Monitor update posted Thursday, some degree of drought conditions persisted in all of New Jersey, Philly, and the neighboring Pennsylvania counties.
Strong thunderstorms also are possible in the Philly region
The atmosphere is going to be energized, and thunderstorms are likely from midafternoon into the evening. The federal Storm Prediction Center lists a 15% chance that some may be come severe, with wind gusts approaching 60 mph.
The weather service says the air is so saturated that storms could wring out 1 to 2 inches in an hour in localized downpours.
But, again, rainfall totals can — and likely will — vary radically within the counties.
The drought conditions will be stronger than the storms
The drought monitor has most of the region was in “moderate drought,” with some improvement in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties.
But all of Chester County and most Montgomery County were in “severe drought.” Southeastern New Jersey, including the Shore towns, were in “extreme drought.”
Soil moisture levels will remain significantly below normal during the next week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
Showers are possible Saturday afternoon, DeSilva said, but then it appears the atmospheric faucets are going to shut off for a while.
“Next week looks pretty dry,” DeSilva said.
