Hurricane Michael: What it could mean for Philadelphia, South Jersey region

How could Hurricane Michael impact the rest of your week? Depends on how the storm develops over the next couple of days, according to the National Weather Service.

Hurricane Michael is now seeing 110 mph winds as it hangs about 360 miles from Panama City, Fla., and is expected to make landfall Wednesday, bringing with it a life-threatening storm surge, hurricane force winds, and heavy rainfall along the northeastern Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared states of emergency in 35 counties ahead of Michael's landfall, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

"Now is the time to prioritize your family. Keep them safe," Scott said, according to the publication. "Do not take a chance."

While the National Hurricane Center positions Michael's lingering track to skip over the Philadelphia region, there could be some indirect effects later this week, said Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Mount Holly office.

"It doesn't look like we're going to necessarily see any direct impact from it, since it'll be to our south and it'll be moving quickly," he said. "However, we're expecting a cold front to be approaching the area by Thursday and into early Friday and with all the tropical moisture in place, which will be kind of supplemented by Michael passing to our south, that'll lead to a pretty good chance of widespread, heavy rainfall and possibly some flooding issues Thursday into early Friday as the front moves through."

There could be anywhere between one to two inches of rain from Thursday to Friday, while the Jersey Shore should expect to see high surf and possibly high rip current risk "around the time of passage and probably lasting into the weekend," Staarmann said.

"If Michael ends up tracking a little bit farther to the north, or moving a little bit slower — and therefore the front moving slower — then we may end up with a little bit higher totals," he said.

The cold front moving in from the west will mean the region's first real — and lasting — taste of fall this season. Saturday is expected to be sunny with a high just above 60 degrees before dipping to the mid 40s at night in Philly. Sunday should be slightly warmer, with a high in the mid 60s and a low in the 50s.

As for the rogue 80 degree days the area has seen so far in October? Staarmann says they're behind us.

"There's not really anything at least in the longterm that would support temperatures that warm in the foreseeable future," he said.