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Fire watch posted for Philly region for Sunday, as an unusual March dry spell persists and winds pick up

This is the longest stretch without even a trace of rain in almost six years, and the longest March streak since 1987.

A jogger runs north on Delaware Ave near Race Street Pier in Philadelphia on Thursday morning. The dry weather has been great for runners, but might pose a fire danger.
A jogger runs north on Delaware Ave near Race Street Pier in Philadelphia on Thursday morning. The dry weather has been great for runners, but might pose a fire danger.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer
    by Anthony R. Wood
    Updated 
    Published 

With the longest run of completely dry days since the spring of 2015 continuing, and winds possibly gusting to 35 mph or more, the National Weather Service has issued a “fire weather watch” in effect from Sunday morning through Monday morning.

And it is “quite possible” that the watch will be upgraded to a red flag warning on Sunday, the weather service said, since conditions will be “favorable for the rapid spread of wildfires.”

Philadelphia officially hasn’t had a drop of anything liquid from the skies since March 1 — the longest March stretch since 1987 — and the relative humidities are forecast to fall into the 20s on Sunday afternoon. “The air is just so dry,” said Jonathan O’Brien, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

Exacerbating the wildfire hazard will be strong winds behind a cold front passing through the region on Sunday with gusts “at least 30 to 35 mph,” the weather service says.

» READ MORE: More snow is possible Monday around Philly, but after three weeks of this, a winter break is likely

Due to the moisture from the melting of the snows of February — more than 40 inches in some areas north and west of the city — forestry officials had been holding off on advising the issuance of any fire flags, said O’Brien.

But with the dry spell in its 12th consecutive day Saturday in Philadelphia, the longest stretch without even a trace of precipitation since the one from April 23 through May 5, 2015, the agency thought it prudent to issue the watch, he said. And the rain-less, snow-less run is likely to extend at least through Monday.

“For March, to get such a dry stretch is unusual,” said O’Brien. On average, March is the second wettest month of the year, with about 3.8 inches of rain, as the temperature contrasts that drive storms tend to sharpen in the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

» READ MORE: Potent March winds roar into Philly region, with outages and 50 mph gusts possible

But the East has been dominated generally by storm-suppressing high pressure, while March has had a particular pick on the West. Denver area was expecting up to 20 inches of snow through Sunday night.

The contrast is not unusual. “Typically if the weather is really busy in the western half of the country, it tends to leave us along on the eastern side,” O’Brien said.

After the front crashes through, it will be quite cold Monday, with morning wind-chills in the teens and temperatures struggling to get to the low 40s.

Some light rain, possibly mixed with snow at the start is possible Tuesday, but a more substantial storm is forecast to affect the region later in the week as the spring equinox approaches.