A heat wave looks to be taking shape in the sizzling forecast for Berks County

Jun. 3—It looks like it's going to be a hot time.

When the clouds break Friday, a summer pattern is expected for Berks County with forecast highs near 90 on Saturday then over 90 from Sunday through June 10.

There's still a chance of showers and storms Friday, according to AccuWeather, but after that, dry conditions dominate the expected five-day heat wave.

The hottest days are expected to be Tuesday and Wednesday with highs in the mid-90s. A cooler air mass is expected by June 11.

So after getting a break in watering the garden, prepare the sprinkling can again.

There were three 90-degree days in May.

May in perspective

When considering the May weather statistics, it appears last month was average in terms of temperature and rainfall for Berks, but looks can be deceiving. While in the end all the days averaged out to normal, last month was far from normal.

A warm start with two 80-plus-degree days gave way to a chilly and dry spell that eventually became a hot and dry spell. Finally, thunderstorms broke the spell, and a few days later a soaking rain on record cold days ended the month.

It was an exhausting month of extremes, from a low of 38 degrees to a high of 93, plus a 17-day dry period, more than half the month, at Reading Regional Airport, the official National Weather Service site in Berks.

"May 2021 contained representations of both hot and cold," said Jeffrey R. Stoudt of Lincoln Park, a retired meteorologist and founder of the Berks Area Rainfall Networks.

Later in the month when the mercury reached 93 degrees on the 26th, thunderstorms followed, giving Berks an overdue drink.

"The rain amounts from thunderstorms varied widely as usual," Stoudt said. "The soakings of the last week amounted to 2.36 inches (at the airport) but was not quite enough to make up for the earlier dryness."

What made the month really special was the cold air pulled into the region by low pressure systems on the 29th and 30th, letting loose more rain and a chill nearly unprecedented this late in the spring in the Berks records.

The high on the 29th of 52 degrees at the airport bettered the 58-degree record by 6 chilly degrees. Such a victory margin is highly improbable after 123 years of data. The May 30 high of 54 degrees had a 4-degree victory.

"Much of the cooling resulted from evaporation when cool, dry air from the north wedged under warm moist air aloft (1 to 2 miles high), which delivered the much-needed rain into a low-lying wedge which was continually supplied by dry air, resulting in runaway evaporational cooling," Stoudt said.

The 52-degree high on the 29th is only surpassed in lateness for such cold in a Berks springtime by a 51-degree high on June 2, 1907.