2 to 3 inches of rain, strong winds expected Tuesday near Philadelphia

Winter is typically a dryer season for the Philadelphia metro area. But precipitation from Saturday’s winter storm, which mainly brought rain and just a dusting of snow, paired with wetter-than-average conditions for most of December, has brought higher precipitation totals for the region.

“December and January, cumulative, we have had a total of 8.96 inches of total precipitation,” Johnson said. “On average for the whole December/January/February time period for Philadelphia, we average about 9.85 … We’re already pretty close to [the] average even though we’re only about halfway through that three-month time period.”

More rain could lead to significant flooding, Johnson warned.

“Two to three inches may not sound like a lot of rain at this point, and it’s similar to what we got with the mid-December storm. [But] we’ve already seen a lot of rain with the three previous storms, so our soils can’t take much more rainfall for it to become runoff.” she said.

A flood watch has been issued for Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 1 p.m. until Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. for parts of Delaware, Bucks, and Philadelphia counties.

Rain isn’t the only concern with thisTuesday’s system. Winds up to 50 mph are possible, according to meteorologists at 6abc. The combination of heavy rain and winds brings the threat of downed power lines and trees.

After the rain moves out Wednesday, temperatures are expected to peak between the low 40s and mid-50s, Fahrenheit, with lows between the high 20s and upper 40s.