ALLENTOWN, Pa. — It was hot, but it wasn't record-breaking after all.
That's the word from the National Weather Service, which said Allentown made a run at record-breaking heat for the second day in a row.
The area's record high, from 1923, was 98 degrees on June 24.
Around 3:15 p.m., preliminary data appeared to show that record fell as the temperature hit 99 — a second-straight day of record heat.
Lehigh Valley International Airport recorded 99 degrees again at 4 p.m., before temperatures began to drop to 97 degrees and the dew point fell to 61 degrees by 5 p.m.
Around those times, the area saw heat index numbers upwards of 102 degrees.
But ASOS (automated surface observing systems) measures temperature in Celsius, and then converts and rounds it to the nearest Fahrenheit degree for some observations. This can introduce small discrepancies, the weather service said.
It means rounding will affect reported values.
Around 5:35 p.m., an official statement from the weather service said today's high was 98 degrees — not 99 — and only tied the record.
It came after Monday brought record-setting temperatures, in Allentown and surrounding areas like Reading, Philadelphia and Mount Pocono.
And, as the area braces for sweltering conditions continuing into tomorrow — the area's extreme heat warning goes into Wednesday — local doctors are urging residents to be mindful of the dangers of heat illness.
“It can hit anybody at any time — that's the honesty of it," Brian Wiese, director of Sports Medicine Operations at St. Luke's University Health Network, told LehighValleyNews.com
