6 tornadoes confirmed in Pittsburgh area on Saturday
Six tornadoes touched down across the Pittsburgh area during a stretch of severe weather on Saturday, the National Weather Service's Pittsburgh office confirmed.
An EF-1 tornado with estimated top wind speeds of 90 mph was confirmed in northwestern Fayette County. The NWS says the track runs from just east of Star Junction and ends just north of Vanderbilt. Another EF-1 tornado hit in Brownsville.
The NWS has also confirmed tornadoes near Ellsworth, Centerville and Beallsville in Washington County. And there was a tornado near Smithton, Westmoreland County.
Based on damage reports, the NWS said the area saw a "large swath" of straight line winds, likely ranging from 60 mph to 80 mph, mostly south of the city of Pittsburgh. There were also some reports of quarter-size hail.
Saturday's severe weather knocked out power for thousands of people, and concerns about high winds prompted the cancellation of Morgan Wallen's second concert at Acrisure Stadium.
Thousands still without power on Monday
Thousands of people were still without power in Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties on Monday evening. They've been without it since 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the heat and humidity has been making it difficult.
"Power just went completely out right after the monster outburst," said Charles Urdenis. "Took down trees, knocked down power lines."
According to West Penn Power, trees came down during the storm and more than 100 utility poles broke. Workers were out on Monday with the hope of getting electricity restored for most people by 11 p.m. on Monday. At the peak, about 72,000 customers were without power.
Larry Bostich of West Pike Run Township is one of the thousands still waiting. In addition to no A/C, he has no water as he's on a well that needs electricity. He got creative for cooling off and hydrating over the weekend.
"We went to West Virginia, Wheeling Downs, yesterday, at the casino, to kill some time and have a couple beverages," Bostich said.
Those who need a break from the heat can find cooling centers at the Richeyville Volunteer Fire Department and Denbo Vesta Six Volunteer Fire Company.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a refrigerator will keep food cold for only about 4 hours during an outage. A full freezer will keep the temperature for about 48 hours.
More storms in the forecast later this week
The area could see some more storms later this week. Starting Tuesday, it'll be hot and humid with highs in the upper 80s. It could even feel in the 90s for some. An isolated shower can't be ruled out in the morning, but isolated thunderstorms arrive later.
Wednesday will be the same trend with humid conditions and highs in the low 80s. Rain and thunderstorms, some of which could be severe, are possible in the evening into Thursday. While the timing and severity are still uncertain, the threat is there. Both Wednesday evening and Thursday will be KDKA First Alert Weather Days.