After a deadly storm hits Bucks, another flood watch in effect for the Philly region for Sunday

After a deadly storm in Bucks County, a flood watch is in effect for the entire 24-hour period Sunday for the Philadelphia region, most of eastern Pennsylvania, and all of New Jersey for another round of downpours that forecasters say could target some already soaked areas with 3 to 5 inches of rain.

A powerful storm led to multiple road closings and water rescues in the Washington’s Crossing area of Bucks County, and the county coroner’s office confirmed that at least three people had died.

Forecasters said more inundating thunderstorms were all but certain for Sunday. In other words, it might look a whole lot like last Sunday, when storms focused their ferocity on portions of the city’s neighboring counties, with more than half a foot of rain in some areas.

“It could very easily happen again,” said Jake Sojda, meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. It’s “very concerning.”

» READ MORE: Last Sunday's rains led to lots of water rescues

What’s more, forecasters say, the atmosphere is likely to keep reloading with moisture during the workweek with showers possible Tuesday through Thursday, although they should not be as potent as Sunday.

In a scenario all too familiar in recent weeks, a weak “cold (in name only) front” associated with yet another of those larger storm systems well to the north and west of the region was forecast to approach Sunday.

Interacting with the sultry air mass, it was expected to ignite widespread showers, the National Weather Service said, starting in the early morning hours, perhaps taking a late-morning break before another round arrives in the afternoon. It was unclear how they might affect the Phillies-Padres game in South Philly, which was scheduled to start at 1:35 p.m.

Parts of the region were treated to an appetizer Saturday afternoon, with a severe storm warning posted for Bucks County, and multiple water rescues were reported in the Upper Makefield Township area.

» READ MORE: 'Microbursts pounded South Jersey on the 4th. The weather around here has been quite active

As they were last Sunday, while showers will be widespread, the downpours likely will be confined to isolated areas, which will be impossible to identify precisely in advance. The atmosphere may be soaked, but the quantity of water still is finite.

Overall, the rains during the last week, particularly Sunday’s, were especially robust in Philly’s Pennsylvania neighboring counties, where through Friday they were about double the long-term normals, according to totals computed by the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center.

Speaking to the randomness of it all, the amounts were less impressive across the Delaware River, especially in Burlington County, where less than an inch was reported, about 85% of the normal value, the river center said.

Last Sunday, a station along the Schuylkill in West Conshohocken, Montgomery County, reported 6.21 inches, or 40% more than the average annual rainfall in Las Vegas, where the heat wave bakes on and on. It’s a shame, said Sojda, that we couldn’t “send some out there.”

Meteorologists say the pattern in recent weeks has been amazingly persistent, with areas of cool low pressure in central North America directing storm traffic to the Northeast.

Its atmospheric counterpart, sprawling high pressure, or heavier air that tends to repel cloud cover, continues to cook parts of the Southwest with astonishing heat. While areas of higher and lower pressure, or ridges and troughs, share space around the planet, this holding pattern has been especially stubborn to change, meteorologists say.

Philadelphia has been on the edge of the troughs, said Sojda’s colleague, senior meteorologist Dave Dombek, away from the core of the chilly air in the upper Midwest but in the path of the storms that have mined the moist atmosphere. That will be the case Sunday.

Said Sojda, “In Philly, it’s going to be pretty juicy, and any storm that comes through could put down an inch or two of rainfall.

“Then it looks like lather, rinse, repeat again. [The week ahead] is looking pretty active.”

» READ MORE: Early outlooks, so far summer temperatures have been a bit below normal in Philly

At least no heat waves are on the horizon.