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Pope, and stormy history

Pope’s visit coincides with 30th anniversary of Hurricane Gloria.

September weather in Philadelphia can be a splendid experience, mining the best of the retreating summer while tapping those first refreshing air masses from the Hudson Bay.

And, yes, it does have very well-cultivated dark, stormy, and sweaty sides.

The pope's visit is 10 days away, and for our money it remains way too early to speculate seriously on what the atmosphere will do to celebrate his visit to Philadelphia on Sept. 26 and 27.

We will confine ourselves to some of the weather that has occurred around that time of month.

His visit will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Hurricane Gloria, which inundated Philadelphia with record rains and gusts past 50 m.p.h.

Heavy rains started the night of Sept. 26, 1985, and the official rainfall total in Philadelphia, 2.79 inches, remains a Sept. 26 record.

Heavy rains continued through the morning, and the 1.85 inches on the 27th also is a record for that date.

Gloria passed close to the Jersey coast, where the effects were more significant, but Philly got more than gentle breezes.

Sustained winds at 11 a.m. were 32 m.p.h.; a 52 m.p.h. gust was measured at noon.

The Vatican might be relieved to know that nothing is brewing in the tropical Atlantic as we post.

As we've written, Philadelphia is concerned about a potential for heat, and heat waves have occurred several times in late September.

The record for a Sept. 26 in Philadelphia is 92 degrees, set in 1970, at the end of an impressive four-day heat wave. The record for a Sept. 27, is 91, set in 1998.

It also can get quite chilly. On Sept. 27, 1947, the temperature bottomed out at 36.