Heat near 100 degrees and Canadian wildfire smoke are on tap as Philly’s hot summer continues
Philadelphia has already posted 21 days with a temperature of 90 degrees or higher. Typically, the city has only recorded 13 such days by this point in the summer.
The Philadelphia region on Wednesday will be under an extreme heat warning, with high temperatures expected to once again hover around the 100-degree mark. But, on the bright side, at least it’s not likely to be record heat for the date.
That dubious honor for July 15 belongs to 1995, when the Mercury hit a scorching 103 degrees. Still, Wednesday will be markedly hotter than normal, with normal highs for the date standing at about 86 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
“Any time we put a warning out, it’s telling people this is significant, and you need to take precautions and be aware of this,” said Paul Fitzsimmons, lead meteorologist at the weather service’s Mount Holly office. “Stay in the air-conditioning, do not exert yourself during the hottest parts of the day.”
It will likely also be noticeably hazy, thanks to smoke from wildfires in Western Ontario, weather service forecasts said.
Wednesday’s forecast high marks yet another hot day in an already hot summer, with 2026 posting 21 days at 90 degrees or higher so far — and three 100-degree days, just two days shy of the record number of century-mark days set in 1988, weather service data indicates. If Wednesday hits 100 degrees, we’d only need one more similarly hot day to tie the record.
The record number of 90-degree days in a year, meanwhile, stands at 55, set in 2010. But in general, the region typically has only 13 90-degree days by mid-July, and 30 for the entire year, according to weather service data. The area’s temperatures have also been about 3.2 degrees above average this month, Fitzsimmons said.
“That’s certainly noticeable,” Fitzsimmons said. “It’s been quite warm to hot.”
So, no, you’re not imagining things — it’s been plenty hot for us around here lately.
We’re not in for much relief in the latter half of the week, either. Weather service forecasts indicated a cold front was expected to pass through the area late Wednesday, dropping temperatures slightly, but highs could stretch into the low- to mid-90s Thursday and Friday.
And then, the weekend storms may come. Again.
Weather service forecasts indicate another cold front is likely to approach the area Friday, bringing with it the chance for weekend storms. It remained too early to tell Tuesday how it would shake out, but early forecasts said that there was potential for severe weather threats Saturday, with a possible risk of heavy rain and flash flooding, similar to what the area has seen the last two weekends.
Meteorologists have said that it is not uncommon for storms to come in seven-day cycles because of the spacing between atmospheric waves that move weather systems across the country, The Inquirer previously reported.
“The overall setup is not that different — we’re going to have hot conditions and humidity,” Fitzsimmons said. “And we are at a time of year where severe weather is favorable, so it’s possible.”
Wednesday’s heat serves as yet another day of record-territory temperatures this month. Less than two weeks ago, during the Fourth of July, Philadelphia saw three consecutive days hit 101 degrees or higher, marking the first time that has happened in records dating to 1873, the weather service previously said.
Severe storms also hit the region late on Independence Day, bringing heavy rain and wind that caused significant delays to the holiday celebrations, which went on to wrap up around 3 a.m. A week later, severe weather cropped up once again in the form of several microbursts of winds up to 70 miles per hour that toppled trees, damaged buildings, and knocked out power around the area Saturday — and impacted the celebration of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge’s 100th anniversary.
Even the FIFA World Cup festivities have been impacted, with FIFA Fan Fest closing early on a few occasions because of heat and storms since it launched in June.
The heat has also had deadly effects in Philadelphia, as city officials earlier this month confirmed eight heat-related deaths for the season.
Heat deaths in Philadelphia have averaged about five a year for the past decade. That figure is down significantly from the 1990s; in 1993, the city recorded 118 heat-related deaths. But the number of heat deaths this year so far is the most since Philadelphia recorded eight in 2022, health department records indicate.
