Philly hits a record 83 degrees Wednesday, and severe storm watch is in effect until 11 p.m.
Snowflakes sightings are possible Thursday.
For those who are fans of the change of seasons, consider Philly your four-season resort.
For a second consecutive day, the official high at Philadelphia International Airport reached 83 degrees on Wednesday, setting another daily record.
But with the approach of a potent June-ending front, the National Weather Service has hoisted a severe-thunderstorm watch in effect until 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Then temperatures are due to crash overnight and fall into the 40s Thursday, and it’s possible that wet snow could mix in with the rain before the showers shut off.
January-like cold is in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center was posting an outside chance that thunderstorms could reach severe criteria — gusts of 58 mph or higher.
The storm center did issue a tornado watch as far east as Lancaster County, but did not include the Philly region.
The storms were moving west to east, said Paul Fitzsimmons, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J.
“We still think severe weather is possible,” he said. A strong thunderstorm was targeting northern Delaware during the evening.
As for the snow possibility, hold the plows. Fitzsimmons said. “It would just be pretty much flakes in the air melting on contact,” he said. After back-to-back days of high temperatures normal for a June 15, the streets and sidewalks have become low-grade hot plates.
And, yes, hitting 80 degrees 10 days before the spring equinox is extraordinary.
Tuesday’s record high, also 83, marked the third earliest that Philly had recorded an 80-degree reading in records dating to 1852.
It reached 80 on March 8, 2000, and 82 on March 9, 2016.
Highs through the weekend will be in the 50s, but colder air is due to pour in next week, with lows below freezing Tuesday morning, and in the 20s on Wednesday morning.
That would be two days before the astronomical spring arrives.