2024-07-17 16:35:01
This is snow joke.
A record-breaking snowfall was reported at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday as temperatures soared to 94 degrees Fahrenheit in a head-scratching contradiction.
The Philadelphia/Mount Holly office of the National Weather Service logged the total daily snowfall over the Pennsylvania airport that afternoon — and noted that it broke the old record for July 14 set in 1870.
The trace amount of snow recorded in the report was actually small hail that poured down during a thunderstorm, the agency said.
“Since hail is frozen precipitation, this counts as a ‘trace’ of snow in our climate reports,” NWS Mount Holly said in a social media post. “Hence, the record daily snowfall report.”
The bizarre weather phenomenon is rare, but not unheard of.
Hail-producing thunderstorms in the summer months have accounted for “trace of snow” reports over the airport 13 other times between 1911 until this Sunday.
The last summer “snow” was logged over the airport in August 2011 — and it happened twice that month, according to the NWS.
But the latest summer “snow” is even more shocking as much of the country enters into a second week of soaring temperatures in the 90s with real-feel temps reaching into the triple digits.
Philadelphia and other Northeast cities have been under Excessive Heat Warnings for several days.
Officials in the City of Brotherly Love declared a Heat Health Emergency this week for Monday through Wednesday. It was the second of the season in Philly after the city’s health department issued the first last month.
