E PA/NJ/DE Summer 2026 Obs/Discussion

[BBasile]

Severe thunderstorm watch engaged! 

[TheClimateChanger]

 

[Birds~69]

Yeah, I'm going to have a couple more then head over to AccuWeather and start cracking skulls. No way is this correct...

[RedSky]

1 hour ago, Psychguy said:

I’m always glad I no longer live in Center City when it gets hot in the summer… it’s bad enough out in my reaches and we have a lot of trees/greenery here in NW Philly;  but good God,  down there, it’s just all concrete. I remember a brutal heat wave we had over the Fourth of July back in 1999 when I lived there and night time was the worst. The temperature at the Franklin Institute on the Parkway registered an overnight low of 88 one of those evenings.

Couldn't pay me enough to live there

[Birds~69]

This is somewhat promising...

[SouthernNJ]

An area of potentially damaging winds is moving in.  Another area is moving along I-95 towards New Castle county.

[Birds~69]

Really a hit or miss tonight. Individual cells popping up all over...

[JTA66]

Gust front coming through with power flickering.

[JTA66]

And power is now out.  

[Hurricane Agnes]

Fell short of 100 and just touched 99.0 around 3:30 pm.

The incoming blob seems to be falling apart but hope to get some rain to cool the brick, cement, and asphalt!

Currently 90 with dp 75 and lots of nearby convection ,

[RedSky]

Slammed and destroyed

[RedSky]

Power out until at least July 8th

And the storms just started

[RedSky]

49 minutes ago, Birds~69 said:

Really a hit or miss tonight. Individual cells popping up all over...

Nuked

[JTA66]

7 minutes ago, RedSky said:

Nuked

Just a run of the mill thunder shower here and I still manage to loss power.

[Birds~69]

1 minute ago, JTA66 said:

Just a run of the mill thunder shower here and I still manage to loss power.

Same...power loss about 10 minutes.

[RedSky]

Somebody has told me the power company is critically low on components

[Hurricane Agnes]

Rocking and rolling here but no measurable rain yet. Gust front came through and knocked the temp down to 81, dp is 74.

[KamuSnow]

Kinda morphed over and around us - had (2) severe warnings at 9pm, and.aside from some strong winds initially and a few rain drops, not a whole lot here. Still breezy, and plenty of thunder/lightning in the distance (along with all the fireworks). Twmp.dropped to 81, nice!

[JTA66]

My temp is down to 76F, so there’s that.
 

i may as well get drunk, there’s nothing else to do.

[RedSky]

249,000 outages in pa 

 

[Hurricane Agnes]

Finally getting some heavier rain.  Have 0.15" in the bucket and temp is down to 73.  

[SouthernNJ]

The strongest winds appeared to occur along the many outflow boundaries put out by the storms this evening.  Unfortunately, these boundaries also caused weakening of convection and less rainfall for some.  The highest number of damage reports were in the western zones where the storms arrived with some daylight remaining.  Currently, the strongest winds are near Pemberton in Burlington county.

[BBasile]

4th Of July Weekend thunderstorms and fireworks.  Looking to add to this over the next couple days... Hopefully.

 

 

[LVLion77]

Not as crazy as last night but a bit more rain at a little over 1/2”.

[JTA66]

Ah, listening to the summertime hum of neighborhood generators while sipping  room-temperature vodka. 72F

[BBasile]

Had a 41 MPH gust with the storms, but still haven't cracked 0.10" of rain.  Temp is down to 72.3F.  

[RedSky]

.50"

[Albedoman]

While I only received about 0.75 inches of rain over the last two days, the winds have been quite impressive. With many areas still without power—from Lower Macungie all the way to Quakertown—I have no doubt that numerous fuses, transformers, and sections of the electrical distribution system have been damaged.

I have been fortunate. Most of the electrical service in my neighborhood is underground, and the surrounding trees were extensively trimmed after Hurricane Sandy. That has undoubtedly made a difference.

It raises an important question: Why aren't we making a greater commitment to underground utility infrastructure? Municipalities should be encouraged to require underground electric service wherever practical, while state and federal grant programs should help utilities such as PPL modernize aging infrastructure. Although the upfront costs are significant, the long-term benefits in reliability, public safety, and reduced storm damage are substantial.

Many people also don't realize that restoring power isn't as simple as replacing a wire. Utility crews must first remove fallen trees, inspect miles of damaged circuits, replace transformers and fuses, repair broken poles and conductors, and verify that each section of the electrical system is safe before power can be restored. That process takes time, especially after a widespread wind event.

What has made this year particularly challenging is the unprecedented number of dead ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer. As a township manager, I have been urging elected officials to dedicate funding for the safe removal of these hazardous trees, yet the response has largely been silence. These dead ash trees are creating the conditions for our next major disaster—not only through repeated damage to our electrical infrastructure, but also by increasing the likelihood of debris jams in our streams and rivers that can dramatically worsen flooding during future heavy rain events. A single blocked bridge opening or culvert can cause water to back up quickly, flooding roads, homes, and farmland even when rainfall amounts alone might not have produced significant flooding.

The reality is that mitigation is almost always less expensive than disaster recovery. Every dollar invested in hazardous tree removal, stream maintenance, and more resilient utility infrastructure can save many times that amount in emergency response, prolonged power outages, property damage, and disaster recovery costs. Waiting until after the next major storm is simply the most expensive way to solve the problem.

I am also surprised that there has been relatively little discussion tonight about the potential for our first widespread 3–5 inch rainfall event over the next three days. Forecasts can certainly change, but this is a weather system that deserves close attention. Perhaps many of us have become conditioned by the persistent drought of the past six months and tend to dismiss heavy rainfall forecasts. However, if this event unfolds as currently projected, localized flash flooding, stream flooding, and river flooding could become a very real concern—especially where fallen trees and debris restrict stream channels.

Anyway, enjoy the cooler weather, and let's hope the forecast trends downward. But this is definitely one of those situations worth monitoring closely over the next several days.

[LVLion77]

While I only received about 0.75 inches of rain over the last two days, the winds have been quite impressive. With many areas still without power—from Lower Macungie all the way to Quakertown—I have no doubt that numerous fuses, transformers, and sections of the electrical distribution system have been damaged.
I have been fortunate. Most of the electrical service in my neighborhood is underground, and the surrounding trees were extensively trimmed after Hurricane Sandy. That has undoubtedly made a difference.
It raises an important question: Why aren't we making a greater commitment to underground utility infrastructure? Municipalities should be encouraged to require underground electric service wherever practical, while state and federal grant programs should help utilities such as PPL modernize aging infrastructure. Although the upfront costs are significant, the long-term benefits in reliability, public safety, and reduced storm damage are substantial.
Many people also don't realize that restoring power isn't as simple as replacing a wire. Utility crews must first remove fallen trees, inspect miles of damaged circuits, replace transformers and fuses, repair broken poles and conductors, and verify that each section of the electrical system is safe before power can be restored. That process takes time, especially after a widespread wind event.
What has made this year particularly challenging is the unprecedented number of dead ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer. As a township manager, I have been urging elected officials to dedicate funding for the safe removal of these hazardous trees, yet the response has largely been silence. These dead ash trees are creating the conditions for our next major disaster—not only through repeated damage to our electrical infrastructure, but also by increasing the likelihood of debris jams in our streams and rivers that can dramatically worsen flooding during future heavy rain events. A single blocked bridge opening or culvert can cause water to back up quickly, flooding roads, homes, and farmland even when rainfall amounts alone might not have produced significant flooding.
The reality is that mitigation is almost always less expensive than disaster recovery. Every dollar invested in hazardous tree removal, stream maintenance, and more resilient utility infrastructure can save many times that amount in emergency response, prolonged power outages, property damage, and disaster recovery costs. Waiting until after the next major storm is simply the most expensive way to solve the problem.
I am also surprised that there has been relatively little discussion tonight about the potential for our first widespread 3–5 inch rainfall event over the next three days. Forecasts can certainly change, but this is a weather system that deserves close attention. Perhaps many of us have become conditioned by the persistent drought of the past six months and tend to dismiss heavy rainfall forecasts. However, if this event unfolds as currently projected, localized flash flooding, stream flooding, and river flooding could become a very real concern—especially where fallen trees and debris restrict stream channels.
Anyway, enjoy the cooler weather, and let's hope the forecast trends downward. But this is definitely one of those situations worth monitoring closely over the next several days.

I welcome a flooding rainfall event. Maybe not 5” but would like to see 3” this week.We need it in so many ways.

[Hurricane Agnes]

Ended up with 0.32" of rain which I guess is better than nothing but am hoping for more the next couple of days to get all this heat-storing infrastructure cooled down.

Looks like I bottomed out at 72 and it's currently overcast and 73 with dp 72.