Sunday’s stormy weather set records
Weather radar from Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 6 p.m. shows heavy rain entering S Jersey.[Image from US National Weather Service)
Record shattering rainfall fell over portions of the Philadelphia area Sunday, US National Weather Service Philadelphia/Mount Holly forecasters said.
Six to nine inches of rain fell around the Interstate 295 corridor in northwestern Salem County and western Gloucester County, according to radar estimates by National Weather Service’s Fort Dix doppler radar released by the agency (photo).
The deluge spurred a dangerous situation on New Jersey roadways just outside Philadelphia.
Multiple vehicles were submerged in floodwaters on Interstate 76 under the Kings Highway underpass in Mount Ephraim, Camden County around 6 p.m. Sunday, the Breaking News Network reported.
Route 42, a major highway that connects the Philadelphia area and shore points, was also impacted.
“Thousands sat in four lanes of stopped traffic on [Route] 42 north for over three hours waiting for drains to be cleared and for roadway flooding to recede,” JSHN contributor Cheryl Regan-Kovaly wrote.
At Philadelphia International Airport Sunday, 8.02-inches of rain fell, establishing a new record daily maximum rainfall for the date, a release from the service noted.
And the record rainfall was not just for the particular date.
“The [record precipitation] is also the most rainfall on record for any calendar day at Philadelphia. The previous record was set on September 16, 1999 during Tropical Storm Floyd and that amount was 6.63 inches,” according to the agency’s statement.
Climatological records date back to 1872.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.