Sunny and dry in Philadelphia the rest of the week, tracking Hurricane Francine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Wednesday will start out nice and cool, and once again, warm nicely with highs that top out in the upper 70s and low 80s. That trend will continue through the rest of the week.

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.

Tracking Hurricane Francine

As for the tropics, Hurricane Francine continues to move north and already bringing some of its outer bands to the southern Texas Coast.

Though still a Category 1 storm Wednesday morning, Francine is expected to make landfall Wednesday evening on the central Louisiana coast as a Category 2 hurricane. Storm surge and rainfall will be a big concern, with 7-10" of rain possible for some areas along the Gulf Coast.

We'll be watching Francine carefully, but right now doesn't appear that the storm will make it far enough north to impact the weather in the Philadelphia area. The same dominant area of high pressure that is responsible for our great weather will be the same weather system to steer Francine west of our region and through the Mississippi Valley.

With this taste of fall in the air it's hard to believe we are still in the summer season, though temperatures will continue to warm this week. The autumnal equinox (start of fall) is in less than two weeks on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 8:44 a.m. ET.

On that day we have equal hours of daylight and darkness, but our hours of daylight will be quickly become shorter after September 22. 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

Wednesday: High of 83, lots of sunshine

Thursday: High of 84, low of 59, sunny and warmer

Friday: High of 84, low of 61, a few clouds

Saturday: High of 86, low of 61, partly cloudy

Sunday: High of 85, low of 62, mostly sunny

Monday: High of 84, low of 61, mostly sunny

Tuesday: High of 83, low of 61, partly cloudy