16 March, 2011

THERMOMETER REACHES 60 IN PHILADELPHIA, 56 IN NEW YORK TODAY BUT EVEN WARMER AIR TO ENTER BIG CITIES THURSDAY, FRIDAY!

Today started off chilly with a heavy, persistent rain as Karen and I headed to Metro Park train station where we boarded a train to Philadelphia via Trenton, NJ for the day.

As forecasts held true, rains stopped on arrival at Market East station in Center City, Philadelphia around 10.30am and by noon skies were clearing out for what would turn out to be a beautiful day.

I've visited Philly on two occations in the past but today was by far the most indepth visit as we did a hop on hop off sightseeing bus tour. It was a great way to see all around this great city's historic monuments and to experience some of it's culture, atmosphere and buz.

It certainly helped with the fact that skies were clear and the sun shinning strong across the region which allowed an afternoon official high at the airport of 60 degrees, located just south of Center City. Center City, where we walked around likely rose into the 63 to 66 degree range thanks to strong solar rays bouncing off concrete and ashalt and thus heating the air above which becomes trapped between the buildings of downtown. That March sun really felt warm this afternoon, forcing us to shed our jackets and allow our pale arms to absorb some spring-like solar rays.

Thanks to this morning's latest storm system which has now exited off the Eastern Seaboard which brought those overnight and rush hour rains, some of which was heavy. Now that yet another high pressure cell is now controlling Mid-Atlantic airspace and is perfectly positioned with it's core over Atlanta and will slide east from now through Saturday, it's only going to warm up! Woinds cycling around the high which is positioned to the south will produce a southwest air flow up and into the I-95 corridor, helped potentially by some downslope, compressional influence off the Appalachains as it blows across the major cities as well as over the Midwest where tomorrow will see 80s, perhaps even 90s throughout the western Plains Thursday. 60-65 degree air, like today will push up into the DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia region tomorrow, though NYC may struggle to reach that 60 or only just clip it.

However, come Friday and the high slides off the East Coast and winds increase out of the southwest ahead of the next cold front which drops out of the northwest from the Great Lakes, temperatures look highly likely to climb well into the mid-70s all the way to Philadelphia, perhaps even Trenton and Newark, NJ and low 70s will get to Central Park in midtown Manhattan.

Thanks for reading,
-Mark