Philadelphia hit 98 degrees on Tuesday, breaking its May monthly record and pushing the city into a late-spring heat wave that has been hard to miss. The old mark was 97 degrees, set on May 30-31, 1991.

Wednesday brought more of the same in parts of the region, with daily records tied or broken in Philadelphia and Georgetown, Delaware, where both reached 95. Heat alerts remained in place for Boston, New York City and Philadelphia as the warmth spread across the Northeast.

The numbers matter because this is not just an early-season warm spell. The Northeast heat wave was wrapping up after producing all-time May records in a few places, fueled by a temporary bubble of high pressure near the East Coast and warm southwesterly winds. Those conditions helped drive Philadelphia well beyond its previous May high and kept the region in uncomfortable territory for another day.

Relief was expected to begin in the interior Northeast on Wednesday, when highs were forecast to stay only in the 70s at most. By Thursday, the cold front was expected to clear much of the Northeast, bringing mainly 60s or even a few 50s for highs. In Philadelphia, heat indices could still reach the mid- to upper 90s before the front fully moved through, so the worst of the heat was not over immediately.

That leaves the city with a clear answer to the question raised by the record: yes, the heat is peaking now, but the pattern is shifting fast. The break should arrive by Thursday, and for Philadelphia, the more notable story may be how quickly May went from seasonal warmth to a record-setting blast and then back toward something much closer to normal.