Central PA Summer 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

[mahantango#1]

[pawatch]

48 degrees this morning. Maybe start the day in jeans  

[Voyager]

3 minutes ago, pawatch said:

48 degrees this morning. Maybe start the day in jeans  

53 this morning here. I'd be wearing jeans today for work if I had an earlier start than 8am. By the time I load the first tank of the day, the sun is starting to warm things up.

Gonna need the heat in the car, though, for starters.

[Blizzard of 93]

57 for the low in Marysville.

Should be a beautiful late July day.

[mahantango#1]

US National Weather Service State College PA 

Favorites ·steprnoSdo396f351052g6h810cug4346m98517t4a4310t48287lm7208lu ·

 

Next 3 days: Doesn't get much better for late July

Humidity and rain risk ramp up for early next week

7/23/26|638am

[mahantango#1]

16 minutes ago, Voyager said:

53 this morning here. I'd be wearing jeans today for work if I had an earlier start than 8am. By the time I load the first tank of the day, the sun is starting to warm things up.

Gonna need the heat in the car, though, for starters.

Please refrain from using the heater in your vehicle in July. One must not use the heater in a vehicle until late September. Don't give in to temptation.

[Albedoman]

While many people are enjoying the recent stretch of cooler temperatures and low humidity, this weather pattern is becoming increasingly concerning for farmers and water resources throughout the Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh County is now officially under a Pennsylvania DEP Drought Warning, reflecting the continued deterioration of soil moisture, groundwater supplies, and streamflows. Residents are being asked to voluntarily conserve water as the drought continues to worsen.

The comfortable weather is actually working against agriculture. Lower humidity, cool nights, breezy afternoons, and the lack of widespread soaking rains continue to dry out already stressed soils. Corn, soybeans, hay, vegetables, orchards, and pasturelands are all feeling the effects, and each rain-free day adds more stress to this year's crops. Lehigh County already has thousands of acres of corn, soybeans, and hay currently experiencing drought conditions.

Another concern has been the apparent pattern over the past three weeks where numerous showers and thunderstorms have weakened, split apart, or tracked around portions of the Lehigh Valley, leaving many locations with little or no meaningful rainfall while surrounding areas received much heavier amounts. Whether you call it the local "donut hole" or simply an unfortunate weather pattern, the result has been the same—many farms have missed the widespread soaking rains desperately needed to recharge soil moisture.

Perhaps most concerning, there are currently no tropical systems or significant tropical moisture plumes on the immediate horizon that appear capable of delivering the widespread one- to three-inch rainfall that would substantially improve drought conditions.

Many people are enjoying this beautiful summer weather today, but if this dry pattern continues into August, opinions will likely change quickly. Brown lawns, stressed crops, falling stream levels, declining groundwater supplies, and increasing wildfire concerns could become the story of the summer.

The Lehigh Valley doesn't need another picture-perfect day—it needs several widespread soaking rains.

[canderson]

It is October outside!!!

[Mount Joy Snowman]

Low of 55. Beautiful days. Had our largest tree, a two and a half foot diameter pine, fall out of the blue yesterday.  Luckily it didn’t take out anything structural but it fell into some other trees and my neighbor’s yard, so quite the mess to deal with over here. 

[Itstrainingtime]

1 minute ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

Low of 55. Beautiful days. Had our largest tree, a two and a half foot diameter pine, fall out of the blue yesterday.  Luckily it didn’t take out anything structural but it fell into some other trees and my neighbor’s yard, so quite the mess to deal with over here. 

Dang, sorry to hear that. 

[Itstrainingtime]

2 hours ago, mahantango#1 said:

Please refrain from using the heater in your vehicle in July. One must not use the heater in a vehicle until late September. Don't give in to temptation.

I know we're all different and we like/love/react to things very differently. I can't imagine turning on any type of heat source in July. Ever. Or in August. Or in September. MAYBE by late October...MAYBE...

  

[canderson]

13 minutes ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

Low of 55. Beautiful days. Had our largest tree, a two and a half foot diameter pine, fall out of the blue yesterday.  Luckily it didn’t take out anything structural but it fell into some other trees and my neighbor’s yard, so quite the mess to deal with over here. 

Was it rotted? 

[Mount Joy Snowman]

30 minutes ago, canderson said:

Was it rotted? 

Yeah it seems there was some internal rot but showed no exterior signs.  Always looked very healthy and put off lots of new growth.  I will say it was a leaner.  From the moment we moved into this house I knew it could eventually go, despite its massive size and healthy appearance.  The lean was in a direction away from the house so we never worried about it too much and luckily it played out that way.

[Voyager]

2 hours ago, Albedoman said:

While many people are enjoying the recent stretch of cooler temperatures and low humidity, this weather pattern is becoming increasingly concerning for farmers and water resources throughout the Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh County is now officially under a Pennsylvania DEP Drought Warning, reflecting the continued deterioration of soil moisture, groundwater supplies, and streamflows. Residents are being asked to voluntarily conserve water as the drought continues to worsen.

The comfortable weather is actually working against agriculture. Lower humidity, cool nights, breezy afternoons, and the lack of widespread soaking rains continue to dry out already stressed soils. Corn, soybeans, hay, vegetables, orchards, and pasturelands are all feeling the effects, and each rain-free day adds more stress to this year's crops. Lehigh County already has thousands of acres of corn, soybeans, and hay currently experiencing drought conditions.

Another concern has been the apparent pattern over the past three weeks where numerous showers and thunderstorms have weakened, split apart, or tracked around portions of the Lehigh Valley, leaving many locations with little or no meaningful rainfall while surrounding areas received much heavier amounts. Whether you call it the local "donut hole" or simply an unfortunate weather pattern, the result has been the same—many farms have missed the widespread soaking rains desperately needed to recharge soil moisture.

Perhaps most concerning, there are currently no tropical systems or significant tropical moisture plumes on the immediate horizon that appear capable of delivering the widespread one- to three-inch rainfall that would substantially improve drought conditions.

Many people are enjoying this beautiful summer weather today, but if this dry pattern continues into August, opinions will likely change quickly. Brown lawns, stressed crops, falling stream levels, declining groundwater supplies, and increasing wildfire concerns could become the story of the summer.

The Lehigh Valley doesn't need another picture-perfect day—it needs several widespread soaking rains.

Driving back and forth over the Blue Mountain multiple times per day, it's easy to see the haves and have nots just by looking at the lawns on either side. Green in Schuylkill County and brown in Lehigh County.

[Voyager]

53 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

I know we're all different and we like/love/react to things very differently. I can't imagine turning on any type of heat source in July. Ever. Or in August. Or in September. MAYBE by late October...MAYBE...

  

I can't seem to tolerate "extremes" on either side of the calendar anymore. Cold always bothered me, but now summer heat and humidity does as well.

I probably should move to San Diego.

[ChescoWx]

Plenty of low temperatures in the 50's this morning with the Warwick DEOS our usual chilly spot at 51.8 degrees. One of the best stretches of weather we have seen in quite a while is underway. Below normal temperatures ranging from the upper 70's to low 80's with lows in the 50's to near 60 degrees through the weekend and into the start of next week. Next chances of any showers looks to be Monday night.

[mahantango#1]

NWS State College: So far this year, we have issued more Severe Thunderstorm + Tornado Warnings than any time in our office's history!

 

238 SVR + TOR warnings year-to-date surpasses 2019 (232) and 1998 (230).

 

We are GRATEFUL for this ongoing stretch of tranquil weather.

#PAwx

[TheDreamTraveler]

5 hours ago, Albedoman said:

While many people are enjoying the recent stretch of cooler temperatures and low humidity, this weather pattern is becoming increasingly concerning for farmers and water resources throughout the Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh County is now officially under a Pennsylvania DEP Drought Warning, reflecting the continued deterioration of soil moisture, groundwater supplies, and streamflows. Residents are being asked to voluntarily conserve water as the drought continues to worsen.

The comfortable weather is actually working against agriculture. Lower humidity, cool nights, breezy afternoons, and the lack of widespread soaking rains continue to dry out already stressed soils. Corn, soybeans, hay, vegetables, orchards, and pasturelands are all feeling the effects, and each rain-free day adds more stress to this year's crops. Lehigh County already has thousands of acres of corn, soybeans, and hay currently experiencing drought conditions.

Another concern has been the apparent pattern over the past three weeks where numerous showers and thunderstorms have weakened, split apart, or tracked around portions of the Lehigh Valley, leaving many locations with little or no meaningful rainfall while surrounding areas received much heavier amounts. Whether you call it the local "donut hole" or simply an unfortunate weather pattern, the result has been the same—many farms have missed the widespread soaking rains desperately needed to recharge soil moisture.

Perhaps most concerning, there are currently no tropical systems or significant tropical moisture plumes on the immediate horizon that appear capable of delivering the widespread one- to three-inch rainfall that would substantially improve drought conditions.

Many people are enjoying this beautiful summer weather today, but if this dry pattern continues into August, opinions will likely change quickly. Brown lawns, stressed crops, falling stream levels, declining groundwater supplies, and increasing wildfire concerns could become the story of the summer.

The Lehigh Valley doesn't need another picture-perfect day—it needs several widespread soaking rains.

Yeah I'm very worried about the tropical season this year due to the super El Nino developing and the Atlantic La Nina popping up. Doesn't mean we can't inch out a tropical system or two making their way through PA but those chances are massively decreased this year. Now if we weren't in such dire drought conditions it wouldn't be much of an issue but that's usually a saving grace at any other time. The 2026 atlantic hurricane season could be as quiet as the 2015 season was which was extremely inactive. In 2015 we had 4 hurricanes and 11 tropical storms which was also another super El Nino year. Though I don't think we were worrying about rain that year according to the drought monitor data from that summer so it wasn't such a big issue. Here's hoping we get lucky with a storm or two despite the low activity.