Pittsburgh Weather: Cooler today with rain possible
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Strong storms are expected for tonight with severe weather possible on Thursday morning.
The biggest concerns for me come from straight-line winds along with heavy rain.
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We have named Thursday as a First Alert Weather Day. There are a number of issues that we will have going through the day but the main concern right now is in the way of strong straight-line wind speeds. Other concerns for Thursday come in the way of big rain totals and building heat and humidity in the afternoon.
It's going to be a busy day from start to finish.
Let's start with the most concerning issue for now which is the strong straight line winds. The chance for severe winds will be from 2 a.m. until 5 a.m. on Thursday.
To me, it looks like places along the Ohio-West Virginia-Pennsylvania state lines will have the highest chance of seeing severe weather.
I think that the slight risk (level 2 out of 5) will likely be extended into these communities later on today.
While the window for severe weather is pretty consistent amongst model data, the intensity of the storms is all over the place. Severe storm intensity will be dependent on how much rain we see before the window for storms arrives.
I have today's rain chance at 60 percent and that may be a little high.
Most data shows just an isolated rain chance today, but we've already seen some local rain showers move through and more rain showers are showing up on radar this morning to our northeast. The more rain we see through the day today and especially late afternoon and into the evening will mean a higher chance for overnight storms turning into just big rainmakers.
Here's to hoping for a good soaking inch to two inches of rain instead of severe storms.
We also have some concerns with what could be the hottest and most humid day of the year on Thursday with heat so even after the severe weather threat we will continue with the First Alert Weather Day through the rest of Thursday.
Getting back to today, highs today should hit the low 80s with the best chance for rain happening after 8 p.m. tonight. Morning temperatures will be in the 60s. Noon temperatures will be in the mid-70s.
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