A flood watch is up for the Philly region, after rains douse some Broad Street runners
Thunderstorms are possible later Sunday as a dry April ends with a super-soaking.
The rains were a pain for at least some of the 28,000 participants in the Broad Street Run, and forecasters warned that rainfall might become a bigger problem Sunday evening, as what had been an abnormally dry April ends with a serious soaking.
A flood watch is up for the entire region until 10 p.m. Sunday with heavier showers and possibly strong thunderstorms possible during the evening, said Sarah Johnson, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly.
Some minor tidal flooding was occurring along the back bays in Ocean County, N.J., and Sussex County, Del., the weather service reported, due to a prolonged spell of onshore winds.
In the immediate Philly area, the primary threat would be road ponding and street flooding, Johnson said, but no flood-level crests were forecast along any waterways, even though close to 2 inches of rain had fallen officially in Philadelphia through Saturday.
» READ MORE: The wet Broad Street Run in photos.
A fresh round of rain got underway midmorning Sunday as the top finishers were breaking the tape at the end of the Blue Cross Broad Street Run, the nation’s biggest 10-mile race. It was unclear whether the rain threat was a motivation, or pre-rain conditions were especially favorable, but a number of records fell along with the precipitation.
The vision of all those soaked runners belied the fact that before Friday, the entire region was having a quite a dry run, which speaks to the generally low probability of stream flooding.
From March 1 through the third week in April, rainfall was about half of normal. In fact more than half of all the rain this month fell on Friday and Saturday.
» READ MORE: Before Friday, it had been quite dry.
The sun is due to make at least a cameo appearance Monday, but shower chances return during the afternoon and remain into Wednesday. It will be quite chilly for the first days of May, with highs the low 60s Monday, and perhaps not reaching 60 Tuesday and Wednesday.
Normal highs would be around 70.
This story will be updated.