Philadelphia hits 98, breaks May record by 1 degree — Weather Philadelphia

weather philadelphia hit 98 degrees on Tuesday, setting a new May record by one degree and putting the city above the 97-degree mark reached on May 30-31, 1991.

The Northeast heat wave was expected to ease by Wednesday, with heat alerts still in place for Boston, New York City and Philadelphia as heat indices in Philadelphia could reach the mid- to upper 90s.

Philadelphia record from 1991

Philadelphia’s 98 degrees topped the city’s previous May record of 97 degrees. That earlier mark had stood since May 30-31, 1991.

Wednesday daily records that had already been tied or broken included Philadelphia and Georgetown, Delaware, both at 95 degrees. For people in the city, that meant the heat had already pushed beyond the old May benchmark before the broader pattern began to loosen.

Interior Northeast on Wednesday

Relief was expected to start in the interior Northeast on Wednesday, with highs only in the 70s at most from far northern New England to western Pennsylvania. By Thursday, the cold front would have cleared much of the Northeast, bringing mainly 60s or even a few 50s for highs.

The forecast also pointed to modest humidity, with dew points only as high as the 50s or 60s expected. That limited some of the worst of the muggy buildup even as the region still faced the peak of the heat wave.

Philadelphia and Georgetown, Delaware

The Wednesday readings in Philadelphia and Georgetown, Delaware, showed how quickly the heat spread across the region before the front arrived. With the Northeast heat wave expected to wrap up Wednesday, the sharp temperature drop to come on Thursday was the main change for readers planning around the rest of the week.