Chilly Wednesday, but Thursday could be coldest morning of the week

It's a bright, sunny fall day with plenty of gorgeous fall colors today, but it's still chilly — daytime highs will only reach the upper 50s again in the Philadelphia region.

Despite the morning chill, there will still be plenty of sunshine with a few afternoon clouds.

Thursday morning will be even colder, with the potential to have our first 30s of the year in Philadelphia and lows near freezing in the far northwest areas like the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, where a freeze warning has been issued from about 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. This indicates that it may be the end of the growing season for crops in that area. If you have a beloved outdoor plant that can't handle the cold, bring it inside tonight.

Our average high this time of the year is in the upper 60s. We do get back to seasonable temperatures by Friday and then another nice weekend warmup with highs climbing back to the 70s.

This will also be a very dry and sunny week with dry conditions right through the weekend. This will not help what is quickly becoming a moderate and even severe drought for parts of the area, especially portions of Burlington and Atlantic counties.

We've only had a little more than three-quarters of an inch of rain in nearly two months and no rainfall so far in October , which is a record to date. In over 150 years, we've never had zero precipitation for the first 15 days in October, and this current dry trend looks to have no end.

The region's last soaking rain (over an inch) was on Aug. 8. We had 5 inches of rain in August and under 1 inch in September.

If the current forecast holds, this will likely be a top-10 dry stretch — the longest we've gone without rain in Philadelphia since records started was 29 days, way back in 1874. We are currently at 17 days. With no rain in the forecast through most of next week, there's a chance we could get close.

If we were to make it to Oct. 28 without rain, that would be a new record for the area. It looks like that time frame may be our next chance at any rainfall, so it could be close.

Stay with the NEXT Weather team to stay alert of any changes.

Here's your 7-day forecast:

Wednesday: Some sun, chilly. High 59, Low 40.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. High 62, Low 40.

Friday: Mostly sunny. High 70, Low 43.

Saturday: Warmer. High 72, Low 43.

Sunday: Beautiful. High 76, Low 45.

Monday: Sunny, nice. High 77, Low 51.

Tuesday: Warming up. High 77, Low 50.

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