Pittsburgh, PA

Weather Forecast Office

NWS Pittsburgh Climate Page

Climate Plots

Pittsburgh Climate Records

Climate Site Normals

Weekly & Monthly Outlooks

Severe Weather & Climatology

Flooding & Climatology

Preliminary (unofficial) Annual Climate Plots

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Click here for plot explanation or visit the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) for certified (official) climate data.

Pittsburgh, PA

Morgantown, WV

Zanesville, OH

Monthly Observations/Normals/Records

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Temperature and precipitation outlooks for the 6-10 day and 8-14 day periods. Issued daily by the NOAA/NWS Climate Prediction Center. The outlooks express forecast probability that temperatures or total precipitation in the 6-10 or 8-14 day period will tend to be similar to the 10-highest ("above-normal"), middle-10 ("near-normal"), or 10-lowest ("below-normal") observed in the 1981-2010 normals period. Color shading on the outlook maps follows standard convention for warmer/colder or wetter/drier, with near-normal in white. Darker shades of red or blue (or green and brown) indicate a higher forecast probability.

6-10 Day Outlook		8-14 Day Outlook
Temperature	Precipitation	Temperature	Precipitation

One Month and Three-Month temperature and precipitation outlooks. The outlooks are issued by the Climate Prediction Center on the last day of each month (valid for the following month), with an update to the outlook on the third Thursday of the following month. The monthly and seasonal outlooks are similar to the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks. However, in areas where "Equal Chances" (EC) is shown, it means that climate signals do not favor either above- or below-normal, and above-, near-, or below-normal forecast categories are equally likely to occur. A forecast of Equal Chances does NOT necessarily mean forecast conditions are expected to be near-normal.

One Month Outlook		Three Month Outlook
Temperature	Precipitation	Temperature	Precipitation

This page provides an overview of tornado climatology for the Pittsburgh, PA (PBZ) CWA since 1950. Visit this severe weather climatology page for a more detailed examination of the NWS Pittsburgh, PA (PBZ) County Warning Area severe climatology.

Tornadoes

This page provides an overview of flash flood climatology for the Pittsburgh, PA (PBZ) CWA since 1986.

Flash Floods can be caused by a number of factors, but is most often due to extremely heavy rainfall from thunderstorms. Flash Floods can also occur due to excessive runoff from melting snow, ice jams, or Dam/Levee Breaks. The intensity and location/distribution of rainfall plays a significant factor in flash flooding, but other factors that contribute are land use, soil type, topography, vegetation type/density, and soil water-content. These all determine if and how quickly Flash Flooding may occur.

Urban areas within our forecast area are also prone to flash flooding in short time-spans as the impervious surfaces in the urban areas do not allow water to infiltrate the ground, and the water runs off to the low spots very quickly. Clogged drains and culverts within urban settings can further exacerbate flooding problems.

It is important to view these severe weather reports as just that, reports. We rely heavily on Skywarn Spotters, Broadcast Media, Cooperative Observers, County Officials, and the Public for severe weather reports. While we remain diligent in our efforts to document every occurence of flooding, we understand that a lot of cases go unrecorded.

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Flash Flood Reports by County

Flash Flood Reports by Year


Flash Flood Reports by Month	Flash Flood Reports by Month (with PBZ Precipitable Water Climatology)

Two maximas are noted in the monthly graphs, a warm season spike (May-Aug) and a cool season spike (Jan). This shows that there are multiple factors at play. The warm season maxima is associated with thunderstorm activity over the Spring and Summer months when precipitatable water (the total amount of water in the column of atmosphere overhead) peaks and heavy downpours are common with thunderstorms. The right image contains the precipitable water climatology data derived from the Pittsburgh Upper Air Sounding. The cool season maxima can at least be partially attributed to rain falling on melting snow and/or ice jam issues.

Flash Flood Reports by Hour

Two maximas are noted in the hourly graphs, an afternoon/evening spike (2-5pm EST) and a morning spike (6-9am EST). The afternoon/evening spike is a result of what you may expect, heavy downpours associated with thunderstorms that develop during the peak heating hours. The morning spike may actually be attributed more to human nature than environmental factors. This is the time of day when most people are travelling and may encounter a flooded roadway, either from earlier rainfall or from rain falling at that time.