Cooler Sunday in Philadelphia, sunny stretch continues this week

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Sunglasses and sweatshirts are needed today. Following the cold front that swept through last night, we have a much cooler and drier air mass in place.

The skies will be sunny with a brisk northwest breeze. The highs will only reach the upper 60s and low 70s. Normal high/low for today is 84 and 64. Our lows this morning were in the 40s and 50s, which is the coolest since June 1. Tonight, we drop even more with morning lows near 51 in Philly and 40s away from the city.

Also, plan on some static electricity for the next few days as very low humidity and breezy conditions.

Today also marks the start of an eight-day sunny stretch that extends through next weekend and possibly beyond. Temperatures this week will climb to the 80s by Tuesday and beyond with overnight lows in the 50s and 60s.

Open window nights are ahead, with low humidity levels -- it'll be very comfortable!

The extended outlook from the NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is for drier than normal conditions across the Delaware Valley through September 24. Currently we are not in a drought but abnormally dry conditions are spreading across the area.

Autumn on the way

With this taste of fall on the way it's hard to believe we are still in the summer season. The autumnal equinox (start of fall) is two weeks from tomorrow on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 8:44 a.m. here in Philadelphia.

On that day we have equal hours of daylight and darkness, but our hours of daylight will be quickly become shorter after September 22 and the days will feel even shorter on November 3 when daylight saving time ends and we flip the clocks back one hour brightening our mornings but darkening our evenings.

The one silver lining is that extra hour of sleep.

7-day forecast

Sunday: High of 71, sunny, cool and breezy

Monday: High of 78, low of 51, gorgeous start to the week

Tuesday: High of 83, low of 58, sunny

Wednesday: High of 84, low of 58, mostly sunny

Thursday: High of 85, low of 60, turning warm

Friday: High of 83, low of 62, mostly cloudy

Saturday: High of 84, low of 63, sunny and cloudy