Strong cold front arrives Saturday with gusty winds and a few snow showers
The month of February ended wetter than normal and with temperatures averaging out close to normal for Pittsburgh. March begins on a colder and blustery note as a strong cold front moves in from the northwest this morning. Saturday's high temperature has already been reached, and we will spend most of the day in the mid to low 30s, and in the evening temperatures are expected to cool off into the low 20s with wind chills in the single digits and low teens. Gusty winds, scattered rain and snow showers are likely as well from before sunrise through mid-late afternoon Saturday. Total accumulations should be under 1 inch for most locations, although if we see a stronger, deeper convective snow shower develop, that could result in isolated higher amounts for communities northeast of Pittsburgh to Route 422/I-80 areas.
WEATHER LINKS:
Current Conditions | School Closings & Delays | Submit Your Weather Photos
The coldest mornings following this frontal passage will be Sunday morning, with low temperatures in the teens, but skies should be partly cloudy to mostly clear as high pressure settles into the region. Another cold start is anticipated on Monday morning with mostly clear skies through the morning and into the afternoon hours.
Once the high moves east on Monday, this will be accompanied by several days of south to southwest flow resulting in a warming trend for the middle of next week. The warmth will be accompanied by lots of moisture ahead of a slow-moving storm system which should result in more rain and possibly some thunderstorms by Wednesday. Models are differing on the speed of the system, which will have implications on the timing of the rain and how long the warmth will stick around. The general trend however, has been for this system to be stronger and slow down, which would result in the best rain chances on Wednesday. We will continue to keep an eye on any instability that develops ahead of the mid-week cold front and low pressure as that could result in more thunderstorms. Gusty winds, falling temperatures and a few rain/snow showers will occur late Wednesday night into Thursday on the rear side of this system.
Stay up to date with the KDKA Mobile App – which you can download here!