BLOG: A Fall Preview

By Steven Strauss

High temperatures will be in the 8os this afternoon, but big changes are ahead for the end of the week.

A cold front will pass through Thursday and bring clouds and a few showers but it will also usher in some much cooler air. The coolest days will be Friday and Saturday when temperatures struggle to get out of the 60s despite sunshine. In addition, low temperatures those mornings will be in the 40s and those are numbers we haven't seen in the Philadelphia area since early May. No need to break out the gloves just yet but you might want to have some sweaters or sweatshirts handy.

The average high in Philadelphia this time of year is 79 degrees and the average low is 61. By the end of October, those numbers slide to an average high of 62 and an average low of 44.

It is not uncommon to have big daily changes in temperature during transition seasons. Cold air from Canada can quickly move in behind a front and knock down temperatures 10-20 degrees in less than 12 hours. For example, in Minneapolis the high temperature yesterday was in the 70s but today they will not get out of the 50s. This is the air mass we will have by Friday.

As we head into next week, temperatures do moderate but expect to see more large fluctuations of highs and lows through October.