Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Just as the soils were beginning to take on that cracked and dried look and the vegetation was working up a thirst, the rains have returned to the Philly region, and showers and possible thunderstorms may bookend the week.<\/p>\n
Rains Sunday ended the first seven-day period without measurable rain<\/a> in Philly in two months. More showers were possible Monday and later in the week, forecasters said.<\/p>\n In all likelihood they won\u2019t remotely approach the destructive deluges in the Midwest, <\/a>said Brian Hurley, senior branch forecaster with the federal Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md. <\/p>\n And around here, despite the generous rains that have fallen upon the region since mid-June, additional rain wouldn\u2019t be altogether unwelcome, said Hurley.<\/p>\n Precipitation in the last 60 days has been well above normal everywhere in the region save for Montgomery County<\/a>, where they were just about normal, according to the weather service\u2019s Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center,<\/a> which uses a network of stations in the counties.<\/p>\n However, not so long ago, as we headed into June, Philadelphia had experienced 16 consecutive months of below-average precipitation totals.<\/p>\n And drier times may be coming, Hurley warned. <\/p>\n Drought conditions have eased, but not disappeared<\/p>\n New Jersey and Chester County<\/a> remain under state-imposed drought warnings, with residents asked to go lighter on the water usage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been putting a dent in that drought,\u201d <\/a>said Hurley, but in the latest interagency U.S. Drought Monitor update, most of the region remains \u201cabnormally dry,\u201d with parts of Burlington, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties in \u201cmoderate drought.\u201d<\/p>\n Thunderstorm activity has been well above normal this summer, with the weather service reporting 19 days officially with thunder detected at Philadelphia International Airport<\/a>. The average for the entire June 1 to Aug. 31 period is about 15 days.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also been quite warm. In 12 of the first 15 days of August, the temperature reached at least 90 at the airport, and this almost certainly is going to end up being one of the warmer summers on record. <\/p>\n The warmth and the rains are related.<\/p>\n Philadelphia has spent a whole lot of time on the western edge of the so-called Bermuda high, centered over the North Atlantic. Winds circulate clockwise around the center of high pressure, and areas to the west of the center (where we are) experience winds from the south and southwest. <\/p>\n Being on the edge also places the region in spraying distance of shower activity as fronts and minor disturbances approach along the western flank of the ridge, with daytime heating adding a kick to the storms.<\/p>\n Thunderstorms may become scarcer come September<\/p>\n Those convective thunderstorms, which can wring out rain in waterfall-like downpours, in all likelihood will become less numerous as September approaches and the days shorten, Hurley said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt does get a little harder to pop convection when the sun doesn\u2019t do its thing as much,\u201d said Hurley. <\/p>\n \u201cIn September we tend to dry out until we get tropical connections,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n This year, however, those tropical connections may be scarce, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other forecast services.<\/p>\n