The season's last big snow may happen tonight
Any Alert Days Ahead? None.
Aware: A stretch of over 55 degree days is coming next week.
Is Friday night going to be the winter's last gasp? It may be. Right now data is pointing to a big warm-up starting on Monday with highs hitting the mid-50s for the day. The rest of my seven-day (through next Thursday) forecast has high temperatures hitting the 60s with morning lows ticking up. By next Wednesday our morning lows are forecast to remain in the upper 40s. Not too bad at all. The rest of the morning is trending warmer as well with the Climate Prediction Center having moderate confidence or higher in us seeing above-average temperatures both in the 3-4, 6-10, and 8-14 week outlooks.
This pattern is what we expected to see for most of the winter, but it hasn't really materialized until now. So far this winter, we have seen 30.4 inches of snow. This is 7.2 inches shy of where historical averages put us through today. We do have a snow chance Friday night. In Pittsburgh, expect more than an inch of snow to fall. What will stick on the ground will be less than an inch though. Places like Cranberry Township and Butler County will have a chance to see snow accumulation of an inch or more. This will probably be the last good ski weekend for area ski resorts with upwards of 3 inches - 4 inches of fresh powder waiting for skiers early Saturday morning.
Snow showers will be possible from around 6 p.m. Friday evening through 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. The rest of the weekend is looking dry. Ahead of Friday night's snow, temperatures should hit the mid-40s for highs. This is pretty close to the seasonal average. Morning lows dipped to the mid-20s in most places with wind chills in the teens due to a persistent westerly wind of around 10mph. You'll see some sunshine poking out from clouds in the morning hours, with overcast skies expected in the afternoon. Noon temperatures should be around 40 degrees.
I have Saturday highs hitting the upper 30s with morning lows in the mid to upper 20s again. Lows will dip to the 20s again on Sunday before we warm up to the upper 40s for highs. Daylight savings time returns on Sunday morning. We go from a Saturday sunrise at 6:43 a.m. and a sunset at 6:20 p.m. to a Sunday sunrise at 7:42 a.m. and a sunset at 7:21 p.m. That's just in time for next week's warm-up with highs in the 50s on Monday, and 60s up near 70 degrees for the rest of the week.
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