BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Widespread heavy rains moved out of the Lehigh Valley early Wednesday, with the storm expected to bring a wintry mix across New England and the interior Northeast on the day before Thanksgiving.
Precipitation totals were beneficial to the area, where 1.80 inches of rain fell at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County — the measurement recorded by the National Weather Service.
Officially, 1.23 inches of rain fell on Tuesday, close to the record value of 1.35 inches for the date set in 1952.
Storm total measurements reported to CoCoRaHS — the Community Collaborative Rain, Snow and Hail Network — were as follows:
Jim Thorpe, Carbon County – 1.91 inches
Emmaus WNW, Lehigh County – 1.25 inches
Emmaus 2.9S, Lehigh County– 1.95 inches
Easton WNW, Northampton County - 1.80 inches
Tatamy, Northampton County – 1.61 inches
Martins Creek, Northampton County - 1.59 inches
Once again, ‘abnormally dry’
While Tuesday’s rain helped to cut into a large rainfall deficit for the month, it likely won’t remove the Lehigh Valley from being classified as ‘abnormally dry’ by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The data cutoff for Drought Monitor maps is each Tuesday at 7 a.m. EST. The maps, which are based on analysis of the data, are released each Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EST.
Many parts of the mid-Atlantic are experiencing dryness (D0) or moderate to severe drought (D1 to D2) and have generally received minimal precipitation during the drought-monitoring period.
The Thanksgiving forecast
Forecasters say high pressure will dominate over the Gulf Coast and Southeast on Thanksgiving morning and will pass off the mid-Atlantic coast Thursday night.
That means while skies should be cloudy initially, things are expected to clear in the Lehigh Valley by the afternoon.
The weather service forecast discussion said a brisk west-to-northwest wind of 15 to 20 mph — with 25 mph gusts — will allow a cooler air mass to begin overspreading the region.
Highs Thursday will be around normal, generally in the low to mid 50s. Cooler air is expected to spread east on Friday, with highs in the upper 40s to low 50s.
