Excessive Heat — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2015-07-19 to 2015-07-20 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

Unseasonably hot and humid weather affected most of Eastern Pennsylvania on the 19th and 20th except for the Poconos. High temperatures both days reached into the lower to mid 90s. The 19th was slightly hotter overall and had some of the highest heat indices of the summer. There were two heat related deaths in Philadelphia on the 20th: an 88 year-old female and 64-year-old male. The morning low at Philadelphia International Airport on the 20th was 81 degrees. The combination of heat and humidity brought afternoon heat index values as high as 100F to 105F on the 19th. A dissipating cold front on the 20th brought slightly drier air into the region during the afternoon of the 20th and heat index values peaked around 100F in southeast Pennsylvania. A re-enforcing cold frontal passage on the 21st brought even cooler and drier air into the area and by the 22nd all high temperatures were less than 90 degrees in Eastern Pennsylvania.

To combat the heat, many counties, cities and municipalities opened cooling centers. The hours of air-conditioned senior citizen centers were extended. In Philadelphia, the Corporation for Aging had councilors and nurses on the phone. In Philadelphia, walking tours in the historic district were cancelled. A 22-year-old man from Virginia drowned after jumping into the Delaware River in Bristol (Bucks County) on the 19th.

Highest temperatures included 95 degrees at the Philadelphia International Airport, 94 degrees in Reading (Berks County), Horsham (Montgomery County) and Westtown (Chester County), 93 degrees at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, Perkasie (Bucks County), Coatesville (Chester County) and Nazareth (Northampton County), 92 degrees in Pottstown (Montgomery County) and Saint Davids (Delaware County), 91 degrees in Doylestown (Bucks County) and 90 degrees in Saylorsburg (Monroe County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 596551. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.