Skies will start to clear in Pittsburgh as milder weather moves in this week
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Outside of a few high-level clouds, skies managed to clear out through the overnight and early morning hours allowing temperatures to drop into the mid-30s.
There are some patchy areas of low clouds and valley fog that are developing as I am writing this and that should linger for a few more hours through the mid-morning hours.
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Once the fog clears, temperatures will moderate as a southerly wind at the surface and southwest aloft transports warmer air into the region. There will likely be more high-level clouds to move in through the day leading to filtered sunshine. Highs will max out in the mid-50s to lower-60s.
For those headed to the Steelers game, no major weather impacts are anticipated.
The increasing clouds Sunday evening will prelude the next chance for a shower Sunday night into Monday morning as a weak disturbance aloft and a cold front swing in from the northwest. The best chance for those overnight showers will be along I-80 and toward the Laurel Highlands.
After some morning clouds, skies will be partly sunny through the afternoon on Monday, which will likely be our most "cloud-free" time period for at least the next week.
Monday morning's cold front will likely not clear the area completely, so we will stay in the mild air mass for Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of another strong area of low pressure that will rapidly develop over the Mid-Mississippi Valley and track toward Western PA Wednesday night into Thursday. In the warm air mass ahead of the low, showers and thunderstorms are likely to occur Wednesday afternoon and evening as temperatures will likely warm into the 60s.
Some cells could contain some strong wind gusts, especially with the cold front passing through.
As colder air wraps in around the backside of the system Thursday into Thursday night, precipitation will change over and or mix with snow for portions of the area. While temperatures aloft in the atmosphere will be cold enough to allow snow to occur, low-level temperatures will be fairly warm going into the event, which will be an issue for getting accumulation outside of the higher terrain of the Laurel Highlands and downwind from Lake Erie.
Areas in the higher terrain of the Laurel Highlands and Ridges could see decent accumulation out of this system while lower terrain across the rest of Western PA may have mixing issues with rain which lowers the probability for accumulation.
We are still several days out from when this projected system is expected to impact, so any shifts in the track and timing of this system will result in adjustments to the forecast. Expect windy conditions along with plentiful cloud cover to persist into next weekend.
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