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A rare March dry spell in Philly — good for roads, not for the woods — is ending

The March dry spell is the fourth-longest since 1874. The wildfire danger is over for now.

A woman shields herself from the rain with an umbrella along Poplar Street in Brewerytown on Tuesday. It was the first rain the region has had in two weeks. Heavier rain is expected later in the week.
A woman shields herself from the rain with an umbrella along Poplar Street in Brewerytown on Tuesday. It was the first rain the region has had in two weeks. Heavier rain is expected later in the week.Read moreHEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer
    by Anthony R. Wood
    Updated 
    Published 

Some pellets of sleet pinged parts of the region Tuesday along with random raindrops. That would have been a wholly unremarkable development except that it marked the first time that anything liquid or frozen has escaped from the skies around here since March 1.

More significant rains are due to douse the dry spell that contributed to a rash of weekend wildfires, forecasts say, but this has been quite an impressive dry run in a month that usually is one of the wettest of the year.

Only a “trace” — that’s rain, snow, or whatever, observed but not measurable — was observed officially Tuesday at Philadelphia International Airport, and in 147 years of record-keeping this has been the fourth-longest streak of March days without measurable precipitation. Tuesday finally did end the longest March run without so much as a trace since 1987.

» READ MORE: Wildfire season in Philly region kicks off with blazes including a 170-acre scorcher in South Jersey

After a dry St. Patrick’s Day, rains are expected after daybreak Thursday into Friday, with as much as 1.5 inches possible.

For now at least, said Jonathan O’Brien, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, the wildfire threat is doused, after a rash of blazes during the weekend that resulted in a critical injury to a firefighter and forced part of the Garden State Parkway to close.

The lack of rain has had some benign consequences.

Even with dryness during the first half of the month, the region has had a surplus of precipitation since Feb. 1, and with all that snow melt, soil-moisture levels are running well above normal in the Philadelphia region and in much of the nation.

The dryness has had a dampening effect on potholes and has been a boon to road-repair crews, said PennDot spokesperson Brad Rudolph.

» READ MORE: How potholes are formed and fixed in Philly

It is at least possible that the region has seen the last of accumulating snow for a while. Temperatures Wednesday and Thursday are forecast to crest past 50, followed by a brief cool-down Friday into the weekend.

In fact, a few snowflakes could fall not far from the region Friday, which happens to be the anniversary of a significant pre-equinox snowstorm, as the storm pulls away and draws in cold air.

It is true that on April 3-4, 1915, 19.4 inches of snow fell upon Easter weekend; one of the most disruptive storms in the periods of record coincided with the spring equinox of 1958; and measurable snow has fallen as late as April 27, in 1967.

» READ MORE: Looking back at Philly’s two biggest March snowstorms: 1993 and 1958

But no significant threats, real or virtual, are in the longer-term outlooks. The government’s updated outlook covering the period through March 26 sees a high probability of above-normal temperatures in the East.

As O’Brien observed, for the snow-lovers, “Time is running out.”

For those who feel that would not be a tragedy, highs are heading back into the 60s early next week.

Staff writer Frank Kummer contributed to this article.