Weather Service: No rain = increased risk of wild fires

There is an increased risk of forest and brush fires in the Philadelphia area because there has been no rain for two weeks, the National Weather Service says.

The NWS has issued a fire weather watch for Wednesday afternoon through Wednesday evening, when temperatures will get up to 90 and wind gusts of 25 mph to 35 mph are expected.

The watch covers Southeastern Pennsylvania, most of New Jersey and northern Delaware.

Although there is the possibility of showers or isolated thunderstorms Wednesday morning, they will be brief and rainfall amounts will be less than a quarter-inch, the weather service says.

After the sun comes out, the NWS said, "dewpoints will tumble and relative humidity should drop below 30 percent by 4 p.m."

The weather service said the greatest risk of fire will be in an east-west ban extending from Fort Dix through Philadelphia to Coatesville.

For more on the weather forecast, go to http://weather.philly.com/US/PA/Philadelphia.html