Another flood warning in effect for Philly until 5:15 p.m., and more of these may be coming
A heat advisory is in effect for Thursday.
Yet another rinse-and-repeat flood warning is in effect for Philadelphia and adjacent areas until 5:15 p.m. as more downpours ooze into the region.
The National Weather Service advised that rain rates of up to an inch in half an hour could be wrung out of the soupy atmosphere along a narrow corridor cutting through the city.
That could be enough to set off flooding along portions of some of the region’s more heavily traveled roadways, including the Schuylkill Expressway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-95, and I-295 in New Jersey, where winds reportedly took down a tree in Westampton Township.
The rains are being set off by a rich pulse of moisture from the South, said Mike Gorse, meteorologist at the weather service’s Mount Holly office.
What’s more, these types of threats may be a “repeated thing” this week, he added, with showers in the forecast again for Thursday night and Friday as the region is stuck in another sultry air mass.
Temperatures are expected to creep into the low 90s on Thursday, and with the air overstuffed with moisture, the combination of heat and humidity could drive the index into triple figures, he said.
The weather service has posted a “heat advisory” for Thursday.
After 16 consecutive months of below-normal precipitation in Philly, officially nearly 8.4 inches of rain has been measured since July 1, and recent rains have set off rashes of flood warnings, including on Sunday.
July’s total, 7.03 inches, was 2.65 inches above normal.
Still, water levels along the Schuylkill in Norristown and the Delaware River at Trenton have remained relatively low, the result of all that antecedent dryness.
However, flashier creeks, such as the Neshaminy, in Bucks County, are prone to slosh over in downpours, said Sarah Johnson, the weather service’s warning coordination meteorologist in Mount Holly.
This story will be updated.
