A spotty evening shower or thunderstorm, then partly to mostly clear and a bit muggy. .

A spotty evening shower or thunderstorm, then partly to mostly clear and a bit muggy.

MONDAY: Humid with limited sunshine; some showers and t-storms, especially later in the afternoon. High: 84

MONDAY NIGHT: An evening shower or t-storm; otherwise, mostly cloudy and muggy. Low: 68

TUESDAY: Partly to mostly sunny, hotter and more humid. High: 90, Low: 70

While a few locations have received some appreciable rainfall the last couple days, overall, many locations across the region have hardly seen anything the last several weeks and could use a decent soaking. The good news is that over the next 24 hours, chances will increase for more of the area to receive a healthy dose of rain.

Humidity levels will also continue to increase into Monday as we track scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight Sunday into early Monday, and especially later in the day on Monday. The key word is scattered though as the next 24 hours will not be a washout, and thunderstorm activity will be hit or miss.

Thunderstorm chances diminish come Tuesday but the heat will increase, with several 90-degree days likely and perhaps the first heat wave of the season for much of the area.

This will be the stickiest day of the forecast in the near term, and coincidentally, the best chance for the most widespread showers and thunderstorms. Low pressure that worked over Lake Erie Sunday night will track northeastward over the St. Lawrence River Valley Monday dragging a cold front from west to east across Pennsylvania as the day progresses.

While Monday shouldn't be a washout, it looks to be our best chance for some needed rain in several spots, with mostly clouds, but also a little hazy sun, between any showers and thunderstorms. Monday morning first thing may get off to a wet start for folks near and north of Interstate 78 with perhaps a few showers or a thunderstorm around.

That activity then looks to move away, and things should then be dry for a while through the afternoon.

Then, as we get into the late afternoon and evening time frame, our aforementioned cold front approaches perhaps bringing a line of heavier showers and thunderstorms. This activity may contain flooding downpours along with the possibility of some damaging wind gusts, large hail, and even a brief weak spin-up of a tornado.

At this time the Storm Prediction Center has much of the region highlighted under a “marginal” risk for severe weather Monday.

Like the preceding few days, highs Monday will again be mired in the mid 80s.

Tuesday and Wednesday look to be dry as high pressure returns. But in turn, the heat will increase a bit, with some near or slightly above 90-degree heat expected for the middle of next week, making it the hottest part of the forecast.

Expect mostly sunny skies Tuesday with high temperatures right around 90 degrees. Dew points and humidity actually should drop a decent amount compared to Monday, so at least initially, all we'll deal with is just the heat for Tuesday.

But then on Wednesday, dew points and humidity start to climb to more sticky levels, and we'll see high temperatures climb to hotter levels in the low and mid 90s with mostly sunny skies.

Our next cold front will approach from the west later in the day Thursday bringing another opportunity for some showers and thunderstorms. A southwesterly wind flow in advance of the cold front and any showers and storms leads to high temperatures in the mid 90s along with high dew points and humidity.

The first heat wave of the season for the Lehigh Valley could finally be in the cards from Tuesday through the latter half of the week with three or more straight days of 90-degree heat expected.

Thursday’s cold front looks to move offshore for Friday allowing high pressure to build back into the region. The day should be dry with mostly sunny skies, but it also appears as though the heat will be sticking around.

High temperatures aren’t expected to drop much compared to Thursday and should still climb to around or just above 90 degrees.

Fortunately, the dew points and humidity levels look to at least drop off a fairly reasonable amount compared to Thursday.

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