Philly weather is mostly made for Made in America and Labor Day weekend

The weather service has a zero percent chance of rain Saturday afternoon, and just an outside shot Sunday. Shore weather is also looking good.

Fans dance during the 26 AR set on the Tidal Stage during the Made in America festival in 2021.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

by Anthony R. Wood

Updated Sept. 2, 2022, 3:09 p.m. ET

Published Sept. 2, 2022, 1:00 p.m. ET

For those attending the Made in America festival Saturday and Sunday or planning to do anything else outside around the Philly region, chances are excellent you won’t need an umbrella, poncho, or even a sweater or jacket.

Proving that a dry spell is good for at least something, the probability of any rain falling before 5 p.m. Saturday, the first day of the festival, is absolutely zero, according to the National Weather Service, rising to all of 2% Saturday evening. Recall that on MIA weekend a year ago, Ida’s remnants had transformed the Vine Street Expressway into something that only a gondolier could love.

And the outlook for Day 2 of the 2022 festival has taken a positive turn, said Trent Davis, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office. “Most of Sunday is looking good,” he said, with just an outside shot at one of those lottery-ball showers late in the day. That’s an upgrade: On Thursday, the forecast odds for rain Sunday were 50-50.

High temperatures both days should be in the upper 80s, and on both festival nights, temperatures in the city are expected to fall no lower than the mid-70s.

The Jersey Shore forecasts are similar, just a few degrees cooler. With a front approaching, Labor Day is more problematic at the Shore than on the mainland with showers becoming more likely in the afternoon.

Nothing personal to those with outdoor plans, but the region’s farmers and gardeners would welcome a soaking as the brown rain of those withered leaves continues.

“This air mass is pretty dry,” Davis said.

Last year at this time, of course, we had quite an opposite issue as the region was trying to dry out from the Ida deluges. Adjacent to the Made In America venues, I-676 from Broad Street to the Schuylkill Expressway became a Philly version of Venice.

This time around, drought watches are in effect for much of the region as rainfall in Philly has been about a third of normal in the last month.

Said Davis, “What a difference between last year and this year.”

In case of emergency

What will happen: If lightning or other hazardous weather conditions threaten, the Made in America crowd will be alerted and any actions that need to be taken will be conveyed from the stage and via digital message boards, the Made in America app, and Twitter, says the city’s Office of Emergency Management.
Shelter: “Event staff are made aware of areas of refuge around the Parkway,” the office said, but, “The Parkway does not provide adequate shelter for severe weather, we are keenly aware of this.”
Past severe weather: The city does have experience with lightning and high-wind threats during Parkway events and a “severe weather action plan,” the office said. In 2014, for example, the Made in America Festival was interrupted 45 minutes by a thunderstorm, but was able to resume with all the scheduled acts performing.