Hurricane and Tropical Storm Rainfall in Pittsburgh

Remnants of Hurricanes and Tropical Storms that have brought Rainfall to the Region.

This is a summary of recorded hurricanes or tropical storms which have brought rainfall to Western Pennsylvania since 1876. The remnants of 69 storms have hit the area. 15 of these storms produced record 24 hour rainfall for Pittsburgh. Prior to 1950, hurricanes and tropical storms were not given names only numbers.

Remnants which produced 24 hour record rainfall for Pittsburgh

RANK - where the precipitation from the storm ranks in the list of the "greatest daily precipitation on record" for Pittsburgh.

CAT - the category the storms had at landfall on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

DATE	DAY(S)	NAME	CAT	PRECIP	RANK
1878	Sep 11-13	Hurricane #5	1	3.24(24hr) 4.48(total)	6th
1885	Oct 12-14	TS #8	TS	1.22 (24 hr) 2.21 (total)
1888	Aug 21-22	Hurricane #3	2	3.57 (24 hr) 3.65 (total)	4th
1899	Oct 31-Nov 1	Hurricane #6	2	1.22 (24 hr) 1.68 (total)
1915	Oct 1	Hurricane #5	4	1.50
1929	Oct 2-4	Hurricane #2	4	3.22 (24 hr) 3.37 (total)
1945	Sep 13-14	Hurricane #9	4	1.28 (24 hr) 1.77 (total)
1954	Oct 15-17	Hazel	4	3.56 (24 hr) 3.75 (total)	5th
1959	Sep 30-Oct 1	Gracie	4	1.18 (24 hr) 1.21 (total)
1996	Sep 6-7	Fran	3	1.52 (24 hr) 1.69 (total)
2004	Sep 8-9	Frances	2	3.60 (24 hr) 3.83 (total)	3rd
2004	Sep 17	Ivan	4	5.95	1st
2012	Oct 29-Nov 2	Sandy	3	1.72 (24 hr) 3.23 (total) Trace (snow)
2018	Sep 7-10	TS Gordon	TS	3.73 (24 hr) 5.64 (total)	2nd
2022	Nov 11	Nicole	1	2.36

Remnants which provided rainfall for Western Pennsylvania but did not break daily precipitation records.

PRECIP - total for the storm / CAT - the category the storms had at landfall on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Precipitation records were not available for some of the storms from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

DATE	DAY(S)	NAME	CAT	PRECIP
1876	Sep 16-18	Hurricane #2	1	4.69
1883	Sep 13-14	Hurricane #3	3	0.38
1892	Sep 13-14	TS #4	TS	0.35
1893	Aug 28-29	Hurricane #6	3	2.23
1893	Oct 13-15	Hurricane #9	3	1.39
1893	Oct 23	TS #11	TS	0.01
1896	Jul 9	Hurricane #1	2	0.54
1896	Sep 29-30	Hurricane #4	3	1.79
1901	Sep 28-29	TS #8	TS	0.65
1903	Sep 16-17	Hurricane #4	2	0.05
1915	Jul 1-3	TS #1	TS	1.06
1923	Oct 23-24	TS #4	TS	0.65
1928	Aug 17-18	Hurricane #2	1	0.27
1928	Sep 19-20	Hurricane #4	5	0.88
1933	Aug 23-24	Hurricane #8	3	0.19
1934	Jun 18	Hurricane #2	1	1.56
1939	Aug 17-20	Hurricane #2	1	0.33
1949	Aug 28-29	Hurricane #2	4	0.56
1952	Sep 1-2	Able	2	0.10
1955	Aug 13-14	Connie	4	1.93
1957	Jun 28-30	Audrey	4	1.30
1965	Sep 11-13	Betsy	4	1.82
1968	Jun 24-27	TS Candy	TS	1.52
1972	Jun 20-25	Agnes	1	2.60
1979	Jul 9-10	Bob	1	0.39
1979	Jul 28-29	TS Claudette	TS	0.77
1979	Sep 5-6	David	5	0.10
1979	Sep 13-14	Frederic	4	0.53
1988	Aug 28-29	TS Chris	TS	0.74
1989	Sep 22-23	Hugo	5	1.49 (t) snow
1992	Sep 25-27	TS Danielle	TS	0.29
1994	Aug 17-18	TS Beryl	TS	0.34
1995	Aug 4-5	Erin	1	1.14
1995	Oct 3-6	Opal	4	1.42
1999	Sep 7	Dennis	2	0.33
2000	Sep 20-21	Gordon	1	0.39
2002	Sep 26-27	Isidore	3	2.29
2003	Sep 18-19	Isabel	2	1.24
2004	Sep 28	Jeanne	3	0.28
2005	Aug 29-31	Katrina	4	1.93
2005	Oct 07-08	TS Tammy	TS	0.74
2006	Sep 01-02	TS Ernesto	TS	0.57
2007	Jun 3-5	TS Barry	TS	0.65
2008	Aug 27-29	TS Fay	TS	0.92
2017	Oct 8-9	Nate	1	0.97
2018	Sep 17-18	Florence	2	0.91
2020	May 25-28	TS Bertha	TS	0.35
2020	Oct 29-30	Zeta	3	1.34
2021	Aug 18	TD Fred	TS	1.67
2021	Sep 1	Ida	4	2.31
2022	Oct 1-2	Ian	4	0.50
2024	July 10	Beryl	2	T
2024	Aug 9	Debby	1	T
2024	Sep 27-Oct 1	Helene	4	1.01

Some interesting facts found in these lists:

-Only 6 hurricanes, which reached category 5, have affected Western Pennsylvania. (1928-Hurricane #4,1979-David,1989-Hugo,2004-Ivan,2004-Jeanne,2005 - Katrina)

-16 category 4 hurricanes have affected the region (the most on the list)

-Hurricane Hugo was partially responsible for the earliest snowfall ever recorded. 1989 Sep 23 trace of snow.

-1893 saw the remnants of 3 storms hit the area, 2 within a week.

-1979 saw the remnants of 4 storms hit the area, 2 in less than a weeks time.

-2004 saw the remnants of 2 storms, Francis and Ivan, hit the area in 9 days causing widespread flooding

-2018 saw the remnants of 2 storms, TS Gordon and Florence hit the area in 6 days, Gordon provided record rainfall and flooding

-Western Pennsylvania, on average, experiences rainfall from the remnants of a hurricane or tropical storm twice every 5 years.