Heat — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2015-09-02 to 2015-09-03 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

A run of six consecutive days with high temperatures of 90 degrees or higher in Philadelphia caused the death of a 68-year-old man within the city on the 2nd. The high temperature that day was 93 degrees. The hottest day during that stretch and the entire year occurred on the 3rd when the high temperature reached 96 degrees. A high pressure system behind a backdoor cold frontal passage on the 4th briefly ended the run of 90 degree weather over the weekend (on the 5th and 6th) before it returned again from the 7th through the 9th. In fact the latter hot spell resulted in the hottest day of the year (95 degrees) on the 8th in both Allentown (Lehigh County) and Reading (Berks County). The hot start to September culminated in the 2nd warmest September on record in Philadelphia at 74.5 degrees (5.4 degrees above normal) and the 3rd warmest September on record in Allentown at 69.7 degrees (5.8 degrees above normal). In Reading (Berks County), the September average temperature of 70.3 degrees was 5.0 degrees warmer than normal and in Mount Pocono the September average temperature of 63.8 degrees was also 5.0 degrees warmer than normal. It was the same for the entire state of Pennsylvania. The average temperature of 66.5 degrees (4.7 degrees above average) was the 4th warmest September on record dating back to 1895.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 598227. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.