Philadelphia's rising spring temperatures
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Philadelphia springs are warming faster than its suburbs and much of the U.S., a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: Warming seasons and shifting rainfall patterns are likely to intensify extreme weather events in Philly, like heatwaves. Warming springs also threaten ecosystems and worsen seasonal allergies.
Zoom in: Philly proper saw a 3.4°F uptick in average spring temperatures from 1970–2024, per nonprofit climate research and communications organization Climate Central.
Context: Climate Central examined 55 years of U.S. temperature data for 241 cities and found that the meteorological spring season of March through May has warmed by a national average of 2.4°.
- In a recent analysis, the group found that 97% of the places analyzed saw a warming trend for the season.
Spring temps in most of Philadelphia's suburbs are also rising faster than the national average.
- Bucks County rose by 3.1°, Montgomery County 3°, Delaware County 2.9°, and Chester County 2.8°.
- Elk County, located in the north-central part of Pennsylvania, saw the highest increase in average spring temps in the state — 3.5°.
Flashback: Last year, Philly's average temperature tied for the hottest on record with 2012 — 58.8° F.
🥵 Zoom out: The cities that have warmed the most since 1970 were Reno, Nevada, which has seen average seasonal temperatures spike by 6.8°, followed by El Paso, Texas, at 6.4° and Las Vegas at 6.1°.
📉 The other side: One region of the U.S. has seen some cooling during spring, stretching from northern Montana into North and South Dakota.
Between the lines: The spring warming in the U.S. is happening in tandem with increasing temperatures around the world due to human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
📅 What's next: Get ready for spring-like temps this week.
- Temps will hover in the 50s and 60s during the work week before shooting up to the low 70s over the weekend, per the NWS.
- Rain isn't expected until at least Sunday.