It’s been a very warm, if not hot, and humid Saturday, and we’re now tracking a vigorous cold front dropping in from the northwest that will clash with the air mass in place bringing scattered showers and thunderstorms. Late this afternoon into the evening will be the best time frame to see some of these storms and a few gusty cells or a gusty line may move through.
A Severe Thunderstorm WATCH has been issued so far for our western counties of Schuylkill, Lebanon, and Lancaster in effect until 8pm. A watch highlights the potential for a few severe thunderstorms capable of strong and damaging wind gusts of 58mph or greater and large hail of 1″ in diameter or greater. Any thunderstorm, severe or not, can produce heavy downpours and frequent lightning. This watch may get expanded to additional counties further east in the future, but the bottom line is, the entire area is highlighted under a “slight” risk for severe weather for later today and this evening…a level 2 out of 5.
While it’s quite warm and sunny as of early afternoon, we’ll watch the later afternoon and evening hours for storms to approach from the west, as early as 5-6pm in the I-81 corridor, 6-8pm in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey, and 8-10pm from I-95 south and east to the shore. Not everyone sees a severe thunderstorm, but the potential for a few stronger storms is there, given the heat and humidity. And while you can also never entirely write off a chance of a tornado with a severe thunderstorm threat, the better dynamics for rotating storms looks to remain well away to our west…