Fall outlook: Warm

Of the last 27 days, temperatures in Philadelphia have been below normal on 23 of them, and the daily high hasn't  hit 90 in a month.

Summer has returned, however, complete with a bad-air advisory, and 90 is a possibility tomorrow. A cool-down is coming this weekend, but the meteorological summer of 2013 -- that's the June 1-Aug. 31 period -- in Philadelphia once again is certain to finish in the above-normal column.

That generally warm trend will persist through the fall, according to WSI Corp., a forecasting service in Massachusetts.

WSI is calling for above-normal temperatures around here, and in much of the country, in all three of the autumn months, September, October, and November.

The exceptions in the WSI outlook would occur in an area from the Northern Plains to the Southeast.

WSI meteorologist Todd Crawford cautioned that the atmosphere can be discombobulated by a tropical cyclone or two, and thus confidence in the forecast isn't sky-high, not that we needed to be told that, necessarily.

The government's Climate Prediction Center says the odds are tilted in favor of above-normal temperatures in the Northeast in the Sept. 1-Nov. 30 period, but it draws the warm line just to the north of the region.

Commodity Weather Group, in Washington, has the Philadelphia region in the neutral zone for September and October.

We've already seen a couple of wild stabs at the winter, but we'll spare you for now.