Pittsburgh Weather: Cooler today, rain now possible Wednesday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - While we are on the edge, the powerful ridge of high pressure anchored in the center of the United States continues to be our main weather player here in Western Pennsylvania.
Daily average High: 81 Low: 62
Sunrise: 6:38 a.m. Sunset: 8:09 p.m.
Any Alert Days Ahead?: Nope.
Aware: A couple of back-to-back rainy days are expected Wednesday and Thursday.
The ridge was responsible for triple-digit heat in places like Nebraska and Kansas yesterday. It's also a key reason why the tropical system 'Hillary' hit and rolled along the West Coast, bringing life-threatening flooding to the region. Airflow around high pressure is clockwise. This means the active side, when it comes to rain and storms, is on the edge of the ridge and mainly on the western side, where winds are coming in from the south.
The eastern flank of the high (where we are) can still see rain and showers. The issue is that with winds out of the northwest to north, you generally need a moisture source. I promise I am going to get to a point soon. We now have a chance for rain on Wednesday, as moisture has wrapped around the high and will move in from the northwest on Wednesday. This moisture is part of the remnants of Hillary.
Not all data is picking up on our Wednesday rain chance, but the high-resolution HRRR is, and it is one of my most trusted models. It also updates more often than other models, so I expect other models to grab the rain chance. I am already seeing a change when it comes to our IBM in-house model, which is now also showing rain chances for the day.
Wednesday's rain chance will be the start of what will now be four days in a row with a chance for rain. Thursday's rain chance is the highest of the week. Data is pointing at anywhere from a half-inch to a full inch of rain falling region-wide.
Let's get back to today's forecast. Highs today should be near 80 degrees. That's a good 10 degrees or so cooler than yesterday's weather.
Winds will be out of the north at around 5-10 mph. Skies will start cloudy but will give way to partly cloudy skies for the rest of the day. Morning temperatures bottomed out in the mid-60s in Pittsburgh. Lunch-time temperatures should be in the mid-70s.
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