Area's unseasonably warm temperatures just shy of record
Temperatures reached an unofficial high of 82 degrees Tuesday at two area airports, about 20 degrees above the normal high but just shy of breaking the record.
The 82-degree mark was recorded at both Pittsburgh International Airport and at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity, according to Jason Frazier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Pittsburgh office.
“It’s definitely an unseasonable temperature,” he said, indicating the normal area high for Oct. 22 is about 61 degrees. The record high for the same date at the Pittsburgh airport is 84 degrees, set in 1947, he said.
“We’re under a kind of flow that has allowed for a lot of heating, not too dissimilar from the setup for a summer high,” Frazier said of the region’s weather pattern. “Temperatures have been creeping up, and today we had an influx of warm air from the south that pushed us higher.”
Frazier said area highs are expected to drop closer to the 60-degree normal as the week unfolds.
“We’re expecting temperatures to stay elevated (on Wednesday) but not be as warm, falling into the mid to upper 70s,” he said. “We have a cold front that will approach, and we’ll have some increased cloud cover.
“After that, we’ll have more seasonal temperatures on Thursday, with a high near the average.”
Jeff Himler is a TribLive reporter covering Greater Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Mt. Pleasant Area and Derry Area school districts and their communities. He also reports on transportation issues. A journalist for more than three decades, he enjoys delving into local history. He can be reached at jhimler@triblive.com.
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