BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A sun-splashed Sunday may have felt like the beginning of summer, but temperatures Monday soared into record-breaking territory.
The climate station at Lehigh Valley International Airport beat the Allentown-area record — 86 degrees in 1974 — clocking in at 88 degrees at 2:40 p.m.
The predicted high Monday in the Lehigh Valley was 85 degrees, with near-record temperatures also forecast at other major climate sites in the region, including Philadelphia and Reading.
The City of Brotherly Love is making a run at its first 90-degree day of the year, with 90 standing as its official record high for the date — also set in 1974.
It was 88 degrees in Philadelphia just after 2 p.m.
Should the temperature reach 90, it will be weeks ahead of the historical average of May 24 for Philadelphia. But the earliest date on record that temperatures hit the 90-degree mark in the Philly area was April 7, 1929.
Reading would have to tie or beat 91 degrees Monday — a mark that has stood since 1888.
"I don't necessarily know that we're going to reach those record highs, but it's going to be pretty close," EPAWA meteorologist Bobby Martrich said in his latest video update.
EPAWA's 4/29 and week ahead outlook, covering:
— Bobby Martrich | EPAWA (@epawawx) April 29, 2024
■ Very warm and summerlike temperatures Monday
■ Cold front Tuesday PM could bring scat'd storms
■ Early look at the weekend and the next rain chancehttps://t.co/uB5XRFuROn
Spring fever
The stretch this week will be some of the warmest days for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast since early October.
From Oct. 1-4, the Lehigh Valley saw a four-day stretch of temperatures in the 80s. Temperatures haven’t cracked that threshold since.
Along with the warmth will be a slight uptick in humidity levels, the weather service said in its latest forecast discussion.
Dew points Monday were expected to be near 60. The higher the dew point rises, the greater the amount of moisture in the air, directly affecting how comfortable it feels outside.
No heat headlines are expected, the weather service said, but the humidity will be a little bit more noticeable based on the time of year.
Will storms cut down the heat?
Aside from another day of warm temperatures Tuesday, forecasters say we will have to keep an eye out for showers and thunderstorms developing across central and eastern PA.
“There is potential for some strong to possible severe thunderstorms to develop. However, currently the missing ingredient is a trigger to fire the storms,” the weather service said.
Forecasters do not expect widespread storms, with fairly limited rainfall area-wide Tuesday afternoon and evening.
