We're thankfully closing the books on a chilly March that acted a lot more like February in terms of temperatures. It was the third month in the last five where temperatures ended up below average around here. In fact, Philadelphia has not recorded a 70 degree day yet this year, the first time for that since 2008.
There's a pretty decent chance that we finally get that 70 degree threshold hit before the middle of April as the pattern for next week suggests a marked warm up towards April 10th. Until then, we're going to have some yo-yo's in temperature, with Monday likely the warmest day of this week, followed by some cooler weather for the middle portions of the week.
A cold front passes through the region around midday Monday with a chance of showers in the afternoon and evening hours for some parts of the region. After a high around 60 towards midday, we could see temperatures fall a bit towards dinnertime. After highs in the 40's on Tuesday and Wednesday, we bounce back to the 50's on Thursday as high pressure brings a nice day.
There is uncertainty regarding Friday's forecast. If we do end up with showers around the region, highs will likely be a bit cooler and may not get out of the 40's around the region. This is still up in the air a bit. If the low responsible for these showers stays farther southeast of us, we could end up with a nice but variably cloudy day.
As of now, the weekend looks pretty decent, particularly Saturday as sunshine should return. Sunday may bring a chance of showers. That aforementioned warmup looks like it should manifest itself around Wednesday of next week, which may present a relatively good shot of us hitting 70 degrees, if not warmer, around the region.
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Tom Thunstrom is the editor and publisher of Phillyweather.net. You can also follow Phillyweather.net on twitter @phillywx or on Facebook.