Severe Weather Knocks Out Power To Thousands, NWS Reports Snowflake Sighting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- From blinding downpours to gusty winds and even some snowflakes, the weather has put us through a roller coaster ride.
Flooding, damage and thousands of power outages have been reported.
At the height of Halloween's wild weather, thousands of customers were without electricity.
Power crews worked throughout the night to bring that number down.
Allegheny County continues to have the highest number of outages with 2,594 reported at 7:30 a.m. Indiana, Washington and Westmoreland counties also have more than a 1,000 people without power each.
Update: The Wind Advisory has been cancelled for portions of our region due to improved observations. With the quick moving low pressure system moving northeast and high pressure building, we will gradually see wind gusts decrease throughout the morning. pic.twitter.com/C13UMr9Yh9
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) November 1, 2019
Duquesne Light said it's already restored power to about 9,000 customers.
But some people will have to wait a bit longer as the company says it expects power to be restored to everyone by 6 p.m.
Heavy rains early in the day caused some flooding concerns. That paired with those high winds, brought down trees, wires, debris and more. People are getting their first look at the damage in the daylight this morning.
Hulton Road in Oakmont reopened early this morning. It was one of the hardest hit areas by yesterday's severe weather.
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It wasn't just severe weather though. The high winds brought plummeting temperatures and the jacket Pittsburghers needed yesterday morning turned into a winter coat for the Friday morning commute.
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service had snow outside their office in Moon Township.
They say the last time we had snow on Halloween was in 2012 during Superstorm Sandy.
We just stepped outside our office and it is snowing. Well, isn't that a nice trick for Halloween night?❄️❄️❄️
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) November 1, 2019
The last time it snowed on Halloween in Pittsburgh was 2012. Any snow falling in the sky counts as a trace of snow according to the National Weather Service guidelines. Therefore, it has only snowed 10 different Halloween's in our records (which go back to 1890).
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) November 1, 2019
The weather was worse over in the eastern part of the state. That's where weather officials an EF2 tornado touched down in Delaware County.
The National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF2 tornado touched down near Glen Mills in Delaware County last night. https://t.co/NLvsUcpEMP
— Jim Donovan (@jimdonovancbs3) November 1, 2019
More than 100,000 homes and businesses are without power at this hour in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The power outages are also impacting the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's customer assistance center today. They say the 1-800-331-3414 number will not be accepting any calls today.
Stay with KDKA for the latest on the changing weather conditions.
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