Pittsburgh Weather: Air quality dips to 'hazardous' for some this morning, improves in this afternoon

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The plume of Canadian wildfire smoke mixed down to the surface yesterday afternoon and has brought many of our air quality readers to the "Orange Zone" for this morning. 

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At least for now (around the 4 a.m. hour) we are not under a Code Orange Action Day with conditions expected to improve this afternoon.

Yesterday's smoke plume once again kept temperatures down lower than what I forecast.  

I had highs hitting 82 degrees and we officially hit 80°. I shaved off a degree yesterday morning due to the smoke.  

Things get a little complicated today as the smoke plume should move east this afternoon, giving us a couple of smoke-free sunny hours with the sun still at a high angle.  

I am keeping my high for today that I have had most of the week, forecasting us hitting 86°, but If we miss it would be south of that number.

Looking ahead, I am bumping Friday's rain and storm chance up to 40 percent coverage for the area. Most of the day is going to be dry, with the chance for rain peaking around 7 p.m. as a cold front drops down from the north. This is also right when night practice starts in Latrobe, and there is a chance practice could be delayed for a bit as an isolated storm pushes by. By 8 p.m., the chance for rain for the rest of the day should be back down near 0%. 

There is another solid chance for rain on Sunday afternoon lasting overnight and possibly sticking around for Monday morning's rush.  

Rain totals look to be less than a half inch.  

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