Pittsburgh: Warmth, Storms Through Labor Day

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

August 26,2013; 9:34PM,EDT

 

 

Warm weather is in store for the Pittsburgh area through Labor Day, but there will also be a few rounds of thunderstorms that may cause some disruptions.
The periodic storms will help to keep the worst of a large heat wave at bay over the Central States, where temperatures will surge to near 100 each day through the holiday weekend.
Around western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia, despite the risk of spotty strong storms, the weather pattern should be great most of the time for late-summer activities such as swimming, amusement parks, evening ball games and camping. However, it may be a tad warm for folks without air conditioning during the afternoon hours.

Humidity levels will increase through the middle of this week, but will then ease back a bit during the last part of the week.
The pattern will be in contrast to much of the first three weeks of August, when temperatures averaged between 2 and 3 degrees below normal. Temperatures will average 3 to 5 degrees above normal over the next week or so. Normal temperatures for the last week of August range from a low of 60 to a high of 80.
High temperatures most days through the last unofficial weekend of summer will be in the middle 80s. Nighttime lows will generally be in the middle 60s.
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There can be a couple of days where downpours are persistent enough to cause minor flash and urban flooding problems, as well as travel delays at the airport and along the Turnpike, 22 and 28. A few communities can also be hit with strong, gusty winds that cause sporadic power outages.

A couple of rounds of storms can occur from Tuesday into Wednesday. Another episode or two is likely to affect the area at some point over the Labor Day weekend.