Warm and dry Memorial Day holiday expected for Philly and Shore after storms
Storms were moving through the Philadelphia area Friday, but the “true three days of the holiday weekend" are expected to be mostly warm and dry.
A wet start to Memorial Day weekend will give way to a drier but likely muggy holiday, forecasters say. So, don’t give up on celebrating the unofficial start to summer down the Shore just yet.
Friday was “a bit of a washout” thanks to a soaking storm that made its way to the Philadelphia region from the west, said Amanda Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly.
The storm hit the area Friday afternoon, bringing with it downpours, flood threats, and brief tornado warnings in South Jersey.
But as we get to Saturday, Sunday, and Monday — the “true three days of the holiday weekend,” as AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dave Dombek put it — the area is looking at drier, increasingly nice days to come.
Saturday, Dombek said, is the only unsettled day, with the possibility of some showers and thunderstorms.
Sunday, meanwhile, looks dry with low humidity, and pleasantly warm for both Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore — a “terrific late spring day for any outdoor plans,” according to the National Weather Service. But, Dombek said, there is one small fly in the ointment.
“There may be some clouds around,” Dombek said. “Overall, it’s not a bad day.”
On Memorial Day itself, forecasters are calling for a mostly sunny day with an increase in temperature that could just about hit 90 degrees in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. At the Shore, though, temperatures aren’t likely to break into the 80s, Dombek said.
The rest of the weekend, temperatures in Philadelphia will range from the upper 70s to the low to mid 80s, and look to be more mild at the Shore due to cooler water temperatures. Monday brings the biggest temperature difference, with Philly potentially being up to 15 degrees warmer than the coast.
Beachgoers, meanwhile, should be aware that there is a high risk of rip currents due to storms and choppy waters at New Jersey beaches on Friday and Saturday. But “for the better beach days” later in the weekend, as Lee put it, there’s a lower level of risk.
Overall, the expected dry, sunny, and warm Memorial Day is a far cry from 2021, when Memorial Day weekend brought almost autumnal temperatures, as well as close to an inch of rain in Philadelphia.
In that sense, we’re getting pretty lucky this year, despite the early weekend rain. Memorial Day is the most prone to bad weather of the big summer holidays, Dombek said. Typically, Labor Day has the nicest weather.
“At least the back half of the weekend can probably be salvaged,” said Lee.