Flood watch, but rivers are low
Heavy rains expected tomorrow, although waterways now in good shape.
The National Weather Service has posted a flood watch for Philadelphia and Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties from noon Saturday until 5 a.m. Sunday.
As Glenn Schwartz has been telling us, heavy rains are likely on Saturday, and the weather service says the totals could be greater than 2 inches.
The weather service says that could cause the more-volatile streams to slosh over, and poor-drainage flooding is all but a given.
Fortunately, however, no major river flooding is expected, and with good reason.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, the water level at the Delaware River at Trenton was 11.1 feet; flood stage is 20.
Some of the usual-suspect creeks were quite low. The Brandywine at Chadds Ford was at 2.1 feet; flood stage is 9. The Assunpink at Clarksville was 3.82 feet, or better than 4 feet below flood stage.
Given the recent heavy rains, and the likelihood that this month will finish in the top 10 for June wetness in Philadelphia, why are water levels so low?
For one thing, said Tony Gigi, a lead forecaster at the weather service office in Mount Holly, June has busted out all over, and the grass and trees have mighty thirsts.
What's more, right before the rains became reinvigorated, the region had gone through a decent dry patch from June 9 through June 17. But the rains have washed away any drought anxiety.
Said Gigi, "We kind of flipped concerns."