Philly’s weather forecast has a mix of heat, storms, chill, rain, and relief from pollen
A severe storm watch was in effect Wednesday.
After precedent-setting May heat, the atmosphere is about to execute another spring back-flip, and yet another record could fall during the Memorial Day weekend — this one for coolness.
Officially, the day after Philadelphia reached 98 degrees, a record for all of May, it reached 94 Wednesday, matching the record for a May 20. But a potent front that prompted a severe-thunderstorm watch for the entire region and all of New Jersey and Delaware was to be the vanguard of dramatic changes.
For pollen-sufferers and gardeners and their thirsty soils, the outlook for the next several days couldn’t be much better; for aspiring beach-goers and picnickers, not much worse.
Some rain is possible every day through Monday. And come Saturday, daytime temperatures may be 40 degrees or more lower than they were Tuesday.
The Philly forecast for the rest of the workweek
Computer models were “bullish” on significant rain into Thursday, perhaps up to an inch, said Eric Hoeflich, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly.
That would more than double the paltry May monthly total at PHL, 0.43 inches. Rainfall throughout the region for the last 60 days has been about 40% of normal, according to the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center, in State College.
The storm center listed a 15% chance of severe thunderstorms, those with winds approaching 60 mph, for Eastern Pennsylvania, all of New Jersey, and northern Delaware for late Wednesday and Wednesday night.
Thursday’s high was likely to occur just after midnight, and get not higher than the low and mid 60s in the afternoon, about 30 degrees lower than Wednesday afternoon’s high. More showers with high temperatures in the 60s are expected Friday.
The forecast for the Memorial Day weekend
Then, it gets cooler, and nastier.
“Saturday looks like the worst day of the holiday weekend,” Hoeflich said. “It’s going to be rainy, windy raw.” That’s around Philly and the Shore.
Temperatures may not get out of the 50s on Saturday in the city. AccuWeather Inc. was calling for a high of 54, said senior meteorologist Chadd Merrill. That would be 2 degrees under the record-low maximum for a May 23, 56 degrees.
“It’s not out of the question,” said Hoeflich, “if it’s rainy and it stays cloudy and dreary the entire time.”
The temperatures should rebound some on Sunday on the mainland and at the Shore, and they are expected to get back into the 70s on Memorial Day.
The sun, however, is likely to spend the weekend behind the clouds.
Pollen sufferers are about to get a break
In the silver-linings department, the rains and cool-down should put a temporary kibosh on what evidently has been a vigorous and tormenting spring pollen harvest for hundreds of thousands of the region’s allergy sufferers.
This has been a banner week for the reproductive activities of the trees and grasses, said Jack Becker, specialist with Main Line Allergy, which has offices in Ardmore, King of Prussia, and Horsham Township.
If you have pollen allergies, he said, “The last several days have just been killing you.” In some cases, the pollen is so plentiful that clouds of it have gone after the innocent non-allergic he said.
With winds whipping around, “you just watch the pollen blow at you,” he said.
The weather service’s Hoefilich said he saw a pollen cloud at Citizens Bank Park during the Phillies game Tuesday night. (It was not believed to have been a factor in the Phillies’ defeat.)
Said Becker, “If you have pollen blowing in your face, regardless of whether you’re allergic, you’re miserable,” he said.
Becker said conditions for the last several months had created “a perfect storm” for attacks of itchy eyes and sneezing. The winter’s enduring snow covers provided moisture for the trees and plant life, and the dry conditions and record warmth this week have been as good as it gets for filling the air with pollen.
Said Corinna Bowser, an allergist with Bryn Mawr Medical Specialists, " It seems like it has really affected people very much this year.
“A lot of patients came in to the office this year with worse symptoms than ever,” she said, “although this is what I always hear. It has been quite busy however.”
The tree season, which began in March, is winding down. The grasses, however, are just starting to feel their oats and will be peaking in early June.
Let the summer season begin, however reluctantly
After Wednesday, chances are excellent that no one will be sneezing or scratching their eyes for the next several days. Rain and coolness are ground stops for pollen, which like beach-goers far prefer sun and warmth.
Memorial Day weekend may be the traditional first weekend of summer, but in terms of weather, “it’s boom or bust,” said Hoeflich.
“You’re lucky if you can get some beach time with a bathing suit and T-shirt,” he said. But this weekend, he said, is going to be a “hoodie” situation.
