Pittsburgh Weather: Storm And Severe Weather Chances Return On Wednesday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Good morning, storm chances return today but there's going to be a lot of folks out there that don't see a drop of rain.
I actually have area coverage at just 30 percent today.
The wind is the concern today with straight-line gusts of 58mph or higher possible.
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The set-up today is a little unique in that it involves what we call a "backdoor cold front."
That's just a fancy way of saying a cold front or cooler air that comes opposite where you would normally expect it to come in from.
Normally, I'd say 90 percent of the time, cold fronts slide in from the northwest. A backdoor cold front, for us, is one that comes in from the northeast, moving to the southwest.
The cold front could act as a trigger for rain and storms possible later today. Instability will be modest with dew points in the moderate range and high temperatures in the moderate-high range at the surface.
If we see storms developing, and I expect we will see a couple of afternoon storms, singular storm cells that could cause destructive straight-line wind outflows is what we should expect to see. Localized flooding could also be possible.
The cold front continues to slide south on Thursday with our region likely seeing a higher severe weather threat for the day.
In addition to strong winds, tornadoes along with large hail will all be possible.
Unlike today the cold front will serve as a trigger for storms to fire off of.
The window for storms will be wider as well, with today's window from 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Tomorrow the window for severe weather could go from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. or whenever the cold front moves through.
Once that happens, you'll be able to feel the change with temperatures a good 5-10 degrees cooler than temperatures from earlier this week. Highs aren't expected to hit the 80 degrees mark this weekend.
For today expect high temperatures in the mid-80s after we hit 88 degrees yesterday.
I have Pittsburgh's high for today coming in at 86 degrees.
Morning temperatures will be in the mid-60s.
Noon temperatures around 80 degrees.
Skies will be mostly sunny for a big part of the day.
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