BETHLEHEM, Pa. — In what has become near routine for the region this fall, the Lehigh Valley is under another red flag warning with an elevated risk of fire spread.
The National Weather Service in Mount Holly issued the warning for gusty winds and low relative humidity, which is in effect from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
Affected areas include Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as Berks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Monroe, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly, the warning said.
‘Enhanced’ fire weather outlook
Entering Friday, Philadelphia needed 1.29 inches of rainfall before the end of the month to match the all-time driest climatological autumn on record from 1922 when only 2.37 inches of rain fell the entire season, NWS Mount Holly said on X.
Philadelphia needs 1.29" of rainfall before the end of the month to match the all-time driest climatological autumn on record from 1922, when only 2.37" of rain fell the entire season. Certainly possible this record is broken this season, but we still have 15 days to go. 🧵 #PAwx
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) November 15, 2024
It’s certainly possible that the record is broken this season, it said, but we still have 15 days to go.
Across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, precipitation deficits between September 1 and November 12 ranged from 6 to 9 inches below normal for multiple locations, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.
Entering Friday, the Lehigh Valley also was in the midst of its driest season to date, measuring just 1.63 inches of rainfall — a departure from the normal of 8.9 inches.
The past two months have been the driest on record in the area, and the past three months have been the fourth driest thus far.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center again put a large swath extending from the Lehigh Valley, through all of New Jersey and into parts of New England in an “elevated” risk category in its latest fire weather outlook.
“Similar to Friday, dry and breezy conditions will again prevail across the region,” the outlook said.
Sustained winds Saturday are expected to reach 15 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph.
Is there any chance of rain?
The weather service said chances of another widespread measurable rainfall event are increasing around Wednesday night through early Thursday of next week, but exactly how much rain we could get remains uncertain.
The good news is that it also likely will signal the beginning of a pattern change to generally cooler conditions, the latest forecast discussion said.
