Feeling Like Spring This Week
Editor's note: Our latest blogger, Brian Donegan, comes from Phillyweather.net. He'll be providing in-depth weekly forecasts—make that PatchCasts—for the area every Monday morning.
If you like springtime weather, you will love every day of this week. A big ridge of high pressure in the mid-levels of the atmosphere will set up over the entire east coast, locking in temperatures that will be 15 to 25 degrees above average through the week. The normal high for this time of year is only 51 degrees. If you are stuck at work all day, yesterday's time change will give you daylight until after 7 p.m., so you will still have a couple of hours to enjoy the beautiful weather when you get home.
A weak disturbance will move through the area tonight into early Tuesday, bringing with it the risk for some showers. Tuesday will likely be the warmest day of the week as a surface high pressure system parks itself off the coast of the Carolinas, setting up a southwesterly flow from the Gulf of Mexico into the Delaware Valley.
Wednesday could also be as warm as Tuesday as another surface high develops over northwestern Pennsylvania, putting our area almost directly underneath of it. Tuesday and Wednesday could potentially be warmer than the current forecast of 75, and it wouldn't surprise me if some locations end up near 80 degrees.
It will remain in the lower 70s for the second half of the week and into next weekend. Another disturbance moves through the area Friday into Saturday. A few showers will be possible during the day on Friday, and Friday night into Saturday could feature steadier rain and perhaps some thunderstorms.
Although it will be warm this week, all of the record highs should be safe. Monday's record is 83, Tuesday's is 84, Wednesday's is 85, Thursday's is 81, Friday's is 82, Saturday's is 86 and Sunday's is 78. We have seen warm temperatures like this in March before, as the records show, but typically not all right in a row.
Definitely get out and enjoy the weather this week, and be sure to check out Phillyweather.net for daily forecast updates.
Nancy VanTwistern
1:07 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
My son lives in Maine just west & south of Agusta......well, folks, the temperature is almost 10 degrees warmer there now than here.......check the weather on this computer every day. As for me, I really wish we had had a 'real winter' .. missed it... and wondering how hot and humid this summer will be??? Saved on electricity etc. this winter but can see the cost of air conditioning this summer. AND, I realize how lucky we are to have 'air' and can pay for it as many cannot!!!
Brian Donegan
9:21 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
Believe it or not, it was warmer the farther north you went today. I go to college 40 miles north of Syracuse, and the high today in Syracuse was 80 degrees. Philadelphia only got to 65 degrees. The main reason for that is the position of the high pressure system to the northeast of Philadelphia, bringing a southeasterly wind off the cold ocean and causing the day to start off cloudy and foggy. I'll discuss this more in my post tomorrow morning.