Pittsburgh Weather: Another 90-degree day expected, last of the year?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - I reached out to the NWS local offices to double-check what their definition of a heat wave is. I was told and thought that Fred at the NWS had said three 90-degree days with no time temps falling below 70.
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It's not that simple and in fact, there are fall and spring heat waves that don't even require 90-degree days.
Anyway, feel free to say this is a heat wave after hitting the 90-degree mark today.
Today should be the third 90-degree day in a row. If we hit the 90-degree mark it would be the fifth of the year and probably our last of the year.
Why do I say that?
Well, historically, while we have hit the 90s as late as October 4, the lion's share of 90-degree days occur in June, July, and August.
The mean date for the last 90° day of the year is August 24 for Pittsburgh and records go all the way back to 1875. If you look at the time that records were kept at just the airport, the mean date is even earlier, coming in on August 16.
The latest 90° day at the airport falls on Sept 30 and that was all the way back in 1953.
Since 2000, the Pittsburgh area has hit the 90° mark just 11 times at or after today in the year. The last time we did that was in 2019.
Looking at the forecast, temperatures cool down Thursday and we continue to see temperatures at or below the seasonal averages for the rest of the week. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center predicts a strong chance for cooler-than-normal conditions will continue for the next two weeks before we start to see warmer-than-normal weather moving in for the last week of September.
It all comes together to give a high likelihood that the chance for the 90s after today is very low.
Back to today's weather, hot and humid weather will give way to scattered storm chances for the evening. Evening storms may see a severe storm or two due to strong winds.
The storm chance continues tomorrow, and even though we are not included under the Thursday severe weather risk I think that will change with the chance for fast-moving storms continuing.
Highs today should hit the low 90s with lunchtime temperatures in the mid-80s.
While hot, it won't be extremely humid to start the day but humidity levels should tick up throughout the day.
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