Pittsburgh/Western PA Summer 2023

[ChalkHillSnowNut]

7 hours ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Lost a tree in the storms overnight. Sounds like there were a lot of downed trees areawide.

Our power has been out since 2:30am…couldn’t ask for a better more humid time-lol my generator isn’t powerful enough to run the a/c

[Ahoff]

I didn’t even know it stormed last night.  Either it wasn’t bad where I was or I slept pretty well.

[TimB]

As we head towards next week, here’s what we’re working with as far as hottest September days on record at KPIT (I excluded the obvious bullcrap records from before the KPIT era):

 

Would think we could find our way onto this list multiple times, with mid 90s not out of the question.

[TheClimateChanger]

26 minutes ago, TimB said:

As we head towards next week, here’s what we’re working with as far as hottest September days on record at KPIT (I excluded the obvious bullcrap records from before the KPIT era):

 

Would think we could find our way onto this list multiple times, with mid 90s not out of the question.

It is sure looking like we are going to see our hottest temperatures of the season in September. It seems like the first half of September every year features temperatures rivaling or exceeding the summertime maxima these days.

[TimB]

Just now, TheClimateChanger said:

It is sure looking like we are going to see our hottest temperatures of the season in September. It seems like the first half of September every year features temperatures rivaling or exceeding the summertime maxima these days.

Sometimes the second half. I think the 91 on 9/27/17 was the highest temperature of that summer, maybe tied with a day in the first half of June.

[TheClimateChanger]

For a little weather history, on this date in 1982, the region was in the throes of an impressive late August cold snap. The official low temperature was 39F at PIT. However, typically colder locations saw freezing conditions. Low temperatures included 26F at Bradford; 28F at Slippery Rock, 29F at Washington; 32F at New Castle; 32F at Youngstown, Ohio; and 34F at DuBois.

Bradford

Slippery Rock

Washington, PA

New Castle

Youngstown, Ohio

DuBois

 

[TheClimateChanger]

8 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

For a little weather history, on this date in 1982, the region was in the throes of an impressive late August cold snap. The official low temperature was 39F at PIT. However, typically colder locations saw freezing conditions. Low temperatures included 26F at Bradford; 28F at Slippery Rock, 29F at Washington; 32F at New Castle; 32F at Youngstown, Ohio; and 34F at DuBois.

Bradford

Slippery Rock

Washington, PA

New Castle

Youngstown, Ohio

DuBois

 

Some other low temperatures reported on this date in 1982 include 27F at Canfield, Ohio; 27F at Millport, Ohio (near Lisbon, Ohio); 30F at Warren, Ohio; 31F at Mercer; 31F at Clarion; 34F at Waynesburg; and 34F at Uniontown. This was widespread frost and freezing conditions outside of the immediate heat island.

[Ahoff]

1 hour ago, TimB said:

As we head towards next week, here’s what we’re working with as far as hottest September days on record at KPIT (I excluded the obvious bullcrap records from before the KPIT era):

 

Would think we could find our way onto this list multiple times, with mid 90s not out of the question.

Definitely, not out of the question, but we've seen forecasts for 90s a few times this summer that failed.

[TheClimateChanger]

7 minutes ago, Ahoff said:

Definitely, not out of the question, but we've seen forecasts for 90s a few times this summer that failed.

It seems the latest sensor is a bit more favorable for warmth. PIT has gone from consistently the coldest spot other than DUJ at 1800' (maybe tied with HLG) to the warmest spot, except for maybe MGW. Makes sense given the heat island at the airport, plus the construction going on. Also went from 1-1.5F cooler than AGC in recent months, to 0.5F warmer so far this month. Although, I feel some of that is attributable to a cooler sensor installation at AGC.

I think mid 90s are a definite possibility if we can get enough of the warmth aloft to overspread our area, unlike the heat wave last week.

[TheClimateChanger]

Even Reddit is complaining about the heat already.

 

[KPITSnow]

7 hours ago, TheClimateChanger said:

For a little weather history, on this date in 1982, the region was in the throes of an impressive late August cold snap. The official low temperature was 39F at PIT. However, typically colder locations saw freezing conditions. Low temperatures included 26F at Bradford; 28F at Slippery Rock, 29F at Washington; 32F at New Castle; 32F at Youngstown, Ohio; and 34F at DuBois.

Bradford

Slippery Rock

Washington, PA

New Castle

Youngstown, Ohio

DuBois

 

That high of 85 and low of 29 in the same day has to be wrong lol. 80 the day before and a 51 degree temp dro overnight?

[TheClimateChanger]

14 hours ago, KPITSnow said:

That high of 85 and low of 29 in the same day has to be wrong lol. 80 the day before and a 51 degree temp dro overnight?

I think the high of 85 would have been on the 28th, but observed at 7 am on the 29th and ascribed to the date on which it was read. But even so, yes, the max thermometer at that station was clearly reading too high. Probably being exposed to some sunlight at some point. Looking at other observations around the region, there was indeed a large diurnal range. But it was more on the order of high 60s / low 70s for afternoon highs, not 80.

[TheClimateChanger]

Old Farmer's Almanac says an old-fashioned winter wonderland is on tap for this winter. I'm not so sure I believe this, especially with a potential Super El Nino. They even claim it will snow for the Steelers home game on December 23rd. I think when you start making specific predictions like that, you're no longer practicing any semblance of meteorology, or science, but something more akin to astrology or pseudoscience.

 

[Ahoff]

Pretty classic that potentially our only heat wave of the year will be after summer.

[RitualOfTheTrout]

Wonder what is showing up on PBZ radar? Pretty sure it's not raining. Some sort of malfunction? 

[TheClimateChanger]

Some statistics for September heat, dating back to 1945. Here are the highest hourly temperatures at Pittsburgh International Airport (any data prior to 1952 would be from Allegheny County Airport).

Unfortunately, there is some bad data. The 4 hourly observations from 1989 are incorrect. Looks like somehow the time of those observations got crossed. The high was 87 that day, and it was in the upper 60s during the morning.

Here are the highest heat indices observed in the month of September. There is only one time in which the heat index has exceeded 100F in the month of September. On September 11, 1952, at 4 pm, the heat index reached 101F. That is the only hourly observation of a heat index in excess of 100F at PIT in the month of September. See note above about the 1989 values, which again are incorrect.

 

[TheClimateChanger]

Here's the histogram of hourly heat indices above 100F in the month of September, showing the single observation from 1952, which occurred during the 4 pm hour. Does not appear this will change this week, as heat indices should peak no higher than about 95F.

[TheClimateChanger]

Another 90 today officially. Only question is how much, if any, above that we get. 2nd in a row, but only 4th of the calendar year.

[TimB]

91 again so far. 4th time since 2011 that we’ve done 91 back to back in September. Prior to 2011 it hadn’t happened for 28 years.

[Ahoff]

Only heat wave of the summer completed today.

[PghPirates27]

over an inch of rain last night IMBY

[TheClimateChanger]

Since August 3rd, only 7 days have been below normal at Pittsburgh, and only 2 have been more than 3 degrees cooler than normal: August 16 (-1); August 18 (-6); August 19 (-7); August 23 (-2); August 30 (-3); August 31 (-2); and September 1 (-2).