off and the big story is the 4th of july 2017. plenty going on in the delaware and lehigh valleys and mother nature is doing her hart so far. we have team coverage and bob brooks checking out the beach and boardwalk at the jersey shore and jeff is covering the party on the parkway for us. and first lets begin with adam joseph and the old day forecast from accuweather. >> not bad across the area, dealing with downpours and thunderstorms in far southern areas but most staying dry and hot. take a look at the temperatures in philadelphia. we are now marking this the third heat wave of the year, it began on sunday and 91 yesterday and today it touched 90 degrees and three days in a row of 90 or above and call it a heat wave above the normal of 87 degrees, stormtracker 6 live double scan most areas are dry and we have been dealing with pop-ups of heavy rain and thunderstorms south of the city especially

southern tip of cape may county getting showers there on the edge of cape may and drying up west of wildwood and sea isle city and a rainy afternoon and rehoboth beach and storms firing up in lancaster county and parts of maryland and this nasty thunderstorm with 60 lightning strikes south of oxford heading towards newark and parts of newcastle. that could slide towards sail imand parts of cumberland county going into the evening hours. for the fireworks forecast most areas stay dry but again wilmington and philadelphia points to the south there are pop-ups with temperatures starting in the 80s at 8:00 and 11:00, 78 degrees. we'll talk about a nice wednesday on tap and more storms for most of us at the end of the week in the accuweather forecast. >> thank you. >> well, folks flocked to the jersey shore trying to see out one more weekday, check out the scene from surf city chopper 6

hd flying over the coast and the beach was filled with people soaking up every ounce of sun and sand on the 4th of july holiday. bob brooks is a bit further south in margate. a great day to be at the beach. >> rick, absolutely amazing, you couldn't ask for anything better and i couldn't ask for a better assignment on the 4th of july and i want to show everyone the incredible scene we have. look at that it's picturesque pan the camera over and look at the scene in margate serving as a reminder how great an area and country that we do live here. it was red, white and blue from the beach to the boardwalk. the shore was packed full of proud people to celebrate america's birthday. on our way into ocean city across the bay. bird watching and cathy morgan was back home from florida. >> we were blessed and on the

beach from washington township he was showing his american pride the red white and blue setup. >> it's patriotic love america. >> the kids were thinking about food and fun. >> the fireworks. >> curly fries and the fireworks? >> yes, awesome. >> the roller coaster. >> in ventnor you can grill. >> we did 60 sliders. almost 60 sliders. >> hot dogs and quesadillas, the families have been doing it for 30 straight years. it's all good. >> it's really all good. >> is certainly is all good. for everyone staying out to enjoy the fireworks, be safe and happy 4th of july, bob brooks, channel 6 "action news." >> all right bob thank you. back here in philadelphia the birth place of independence, the

4th of july festivities started this morning with the celebration of freedom people gathered at city hall for the ceremony and boys to men had the honor of reading the declaration of independence. ♪ ♪ next came the independence day parade. various groups marching through the streets before noon time today. all to celebrate america's 241st birthday. the party continues on the parkway that is where jeff joins us live. anticipation is building for the 4th of july concert set to start in the matter of minutes a couple of hours or so? >> reporter: hey rick, the party got started here at noon you see folk as rising for tonight's free concert. tens of thousands are expected here. you may be able to see through

the crowd people have grabbed a seat or spot on the lawn they are all here to celebrate the 4th of july in a way that only philadelphia can. >> happy 4th of july. >> equipment is building as people line up for the concert on the parkway. headliner, mary j. blige. >> i can't say nothing else many come here for mary. >> food trucks and games were a popular spot to spend the afternoon. a final day of the week long wawa welcome america celebration. >> this is the best we love it. >> just see all of our buddies and friends and make new ones. >> anita of california says there is no better time to make her first trip to philadelphia. >> all the history out here it's awesomement learning about it in school and then actually being here it's awesome. >> the concert begins at 7:00 with philly pops and boyz ii

men. and brian will be here for it all. >> you a big mary j. blige fan? >> i like her. and know who she is. give me credit for that. >> back here live at the foot tent they are hopping all night burgers and mac and cheese on the menu for tonight. fireworks on the delaware river at the art museum they kick off or expected to kick off tonight at 9:30, reporting live at the parkway jeff cherco, channel 6 "action news." they continue a 102 year 4th of july tradition in the lawn crest section of philadelphia. after the annual parade there was a flea market and car show. various entertainment throughout the day benefiting the lawn crest rec center there will be a celebration at dusk here tonight as well. plenty of fun to be had in media today. the annual celebration was held

at burrell field and kids could have their face paints or try their hand at pitching or take a chance on the water slide. >> uncle sam cooked up good foot as well. this was the 13th annual celebration at johnson park. plenty of games like a water balloon toss and three legged races and the fire company cooled everyone down from a from a from their truck. and ice-cream helped to cool folks off. ♪ ♪ >> red white and blue was around the grounds of hill castle they hosted their 4th of july celebration and kids decked their wheels in festive colors for the popular bike parade. ♪ ♪ the sounds of bag pipes filled the parade route in burlington

county and riders on tiny old time vehicles and santa himself, there he is, stopped by for a bit of christmas in july. like the hawaiian shirt. pol tigiticians were on par in newcastle delaware. they all took part in the annual march on old lancaster pike. the sites included fire trucks and marching bands and uncle sam. we want to see how you celebrated this 4th of july holiday this year, send us pictures and video to jointheaction@6abc.com with 6 abc action on social media. in other news tonight, with a budget deal in place. new jersey state parks and beaches reopened today. they had been shuttered for three days because of the impasse. chopper 6 hd flew over island beach state park enjoying the

sand and surf made infamous with governor christie and his family who lounged at the shore spot despite the closure. and folks were out at places like washington crossing. and new jersey drivers affected by the shut down will get a brief reprieve from the state. the motor vehicle commission announced that drivers licenses and permits and registration stickers expired have until thursday to renew and offices will reopen for business tomorrow. still to come on "action news" tonight. dramatic video showing the moment that a tractor trailer overturned on the blue route, see how witnesses came to the aid of the driver. and the disturbing find inside of a small casket discovered on a north philadelphia sidewalk. >> we are still watching downpours popping south of philadelphia and in the city itself it's dry today and temperatures 90 degrees mashing the third heat wave of the year

below the normal of 87 degrees, we have the fire works across the board. >> all right adam, jeff skversky has the 4th of july day in sports.

police are investigating a disturbing discovery on a sidewalk in south philadelphia. embalmed organs believed to be from an infant or child were found inside a small casket. the discovery was made across from mount vernon cemetery and contacting area funeral homes to see if there are caskets missing and searching cemeteries to see if graves have been disrupted. chopper 6 hd was over the

scene a fatal accident in south philadelphia this afternoon. it happened before 12:30 in the southbound lanes of i-95 near front street. officials say that one persons with killed and another was taken to the hospital. the victim's condition is unknown. dramatic video of yesterday's blue route accident in broomall was shared with "action news" on facebook and the tractor trailer crash shut down i 76 for about 7 hours, wenty saltzman talk toed the manta shot the video. >> reporter: the crash seemed to happen in a minute. but victor watched for several minutes as the 18 wheeler swerved from lane to lane, i thought something is going eastern playing around or falling asleep at the wheel. he tried to get safely alongside to warn the driver, he turned on his video camera. >> i was shocked in was happening in front of my eyes. >> he shared this video and

spoke exclusively with "action news" what you caught on camera. i saw what was going to happen and didn't want it to happen but there was no way to stop it. >> you see the tractor trailer swerve into the barrier and flips and closed down traffic for several hours. >> i thought they was dead. one of the first thing i wanted to do was park on the side and run to the cabin and i saw fluids coming down. >> he and his brother and another man rushed to the vehicle and wrote out the windshield. the driver was unresponsive. >> he was breathing and this was a relief. >> will the video shed light on the crash. >> he said he didn't believe alcohol was a factor but the state police are investigating. >> i didn't smell alcohol or see alcohol bottles in the cabin i believe more likely was probably fall asleep and tiredness and probably a long drive. >> the question now is could

drugs have potentially been involved. the 27-year-old driver from vineland, new jersey can was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries with potentially a broken shoulder. channel 6 "action news." in honor of the 4th of july holiday, 13 children became america's newest citizens today. the group took the oath of allegiance in front of betsy ross house. and afterwards the kids participated in the bell ringing ceremony to commemorate the 13 original colonies.

fios is not cable. and we believe everyone deserves faster internet. so with fios gigabit connection, you get amazing download speeds up to 940 megs 20 times faster than most people have. and it's just $79.99 a month online for the first year. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years. all with a 2-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com. a different kind of 4th of july took place in julian county. tack teres of all shapes and colors went down main street. it started with one man and his tractor and now 70 tractors and floats joined the annual tradition. >> jeff skversky is here now

with sports and phillies going for three in a row. >> off to a sluggish start at the ballpark. the last place phillies looking to avoid putting up a dud against the pirates and win three in a row. phillies before the game they honor their employees who have served our country. veterans are here dating back to world war ii. fourth inning runners on first and third. no dice. pirates pitcher strikes out the side and phillies battered struck out 11 times and andrew mckuchin launches this shot. and phillies starter jared is pitching tonight too just up the road i-95 in trenton new jersey where he makes his first rehab start since going on the disabled list two weeks ago and hopes to pitch for the phillies on sunday if all goes well.

>> it's short but just having to sit on the sidelines and watch and not try to help this team win it's been hard. and it's something that i'm taking and embracing it and i'm able to take positives out of it as well. the road is back and closed and that obviously helps. >> you can smell a little bit more and get into the game, it's the first taste. i'm pretty excited about it. >> he still need a win by the way. ben simmons not the only first round pick from last year to make his debut. the turkish shooting guard signed with the sixers today. markelle fultz is expected to play tomorrow in a second summer league game trying to build against last night's debut and fultz is trying to tweak his taming and pace in the loss against the celtics, losing even

a summer league game eats away at the kid. >> i try to score and win a game. at the end of the day i give it my all that is all i can do. >> we play the boston celtics and put guys like markelle part of our bright future, he ripped and it attacked it and we were happy with the outcome. two of the biggest names in tennis advance with ease. roger federer and novak djokovic both with a half day of work. like rick williams on most days. both move on after their opponents retire because of injuries. roger federer works up no sweat at all. in his opening round match only 43 minutes to dispose of hi opponent and move on. 85-11, he has the most wins all time on the grass court. and finally fireworks are not the only thin shooting in

the sky. you have heard of the x-games now check out nitro circus this is ryan williams a scooter action sport daredevil. unbelievable lost the scooter and gets it back and pulls it off. we have something to do on the dinner break. >> try it and have someone tape it and we'll put it on at 11:00. and ducis will do sports. adam joseph has it's accuweather forecast when we come right back.

meteorologist, cecily tynan, in tonight with the accuweather forecast. >> i think you picked a good one. last year -- yes i remember it was rainy. >> there is some pockets of downpours around here and philadelphia is dry and should stay dry for the evening concert and fireworks as we take a look at the weather center live on sky 6 hd in cape may. over the last hour or so light rain pushed in and the clouds and the shore at this point and the vantage point in the sand and there is no one sitting there basking in any sunshine and stormtracker 6 live double scan will show you to this here, most of the area i will stress is dry and will remain dry but there has been heavy hitters here and there. we closed into the nasty thunderstorm east of oxford route 1 welling up in new cast the county and newark getting

rocked by thunder and heavy rain sliding south of wilmington. we'll watch them drift into newcastle county and parts of kent county getting wet and thunderstorms in smyrna and dover and fow more trying to pop in for maryland heading to the east. and most of these should start to fall apart as we get closer to sunset. >> temperatures hit 90 in philadelphia and as we look at numbers here. 86 in philadelphia and 82 in wilmington and there you see the 70s where we have a lot of clouds and where we saw most of those downpours fire up this afternoon. it's all along a boundary that is along the south and west, you see the action virginia and west virginia and the klein -- and this low ripples its way eastbound to the end of the week. tomorrow looking good and warm and partly sunny and knock a few

degrees off from today. humidity stays fairly low and 72 at 8:00 in the morning and near 80 at lunch time and breaking into the mid-80s in the afternoon it's dry and we won't see the pop-ups in areas that we have today, tomorrow. down the shore for the rest of the week, tomorrow northeasterly wind and sun and clouds keeping temperatures in the 70s here and take advantage of tomorrow because it's very wet at times, thursday into friday morning at the shore. 53 sea isle city and 70s at the beaches in delaware with the wind coming in off the water and as we get into the end of the week high pressure is building in the rockies, the ridge where the core will be and the trough is not settling enough to keep us dry and turns unsettled along the jet stream thursday and friday. the exclusive accuweather forecast sun and clouds tomorrow great at 85 a lot of clouds on

thursday, storms popping at 80 degrees and especially during the afternoon and evening and that continues with oppressive humidity for the first part of friday unsettled and the second half of friday drys out be the humidity drops, 87 saturday and 86 on sunday and looking good next week with temperatures around average. >> thank you. abc world news with david muir is next on channel 6. and "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl 17 with brian taff, ducis rogers and join us for "action news" at 11:00. right here on channel 6. now for jim gardner, cecily tynan, adam joseph, jeff skversky and ducis rogers and the entire "action news" team i'm rick williams. have a nice 4th.

tonight north korea's threat to america on the fourth of july. the new, more powerful missile. american officials confirming its long range capability. could north korean missiles now reach alaska, or even further east? the president's response and his unusual message to kim jong-un. president trump and vladimir putin preparing to meet face to face. tonight, the white house and the russians describing the meeting in two very different ways. will russia's meddling in the u.s. election be on the agenda? up in flames. police investigating the possibility of illegal fireworks in the blast that leveled this home as the heat and bone dry conditions in the west are turning fireworks into a fire fight. and holiday hig