Pittsburgh Weather: Rain chances return for another day, storm chance remains low

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – How much rain did you see yesterday?

• Daily average High: 82  Low: 62
• Sunrise: 5:52 a.m. Sunset: 8:55 p.m.

Today: Off and on rain showers with comfortable weather in place.  Highs should be a good 10-15 degrees cooler than the daily average.

Any Alert Days Ahead?: One could be issued for the weekend. Right now, it doesn’t look like one will be needed.

Aware: Much-needed rain continues today, Saturday, and Sunday.

Rain totals were all over the place. At the airport, they saw just over a quarter of an inch of rain. While average rain totals were anywhere from a quarter of an inch to a half-inch, as expected, some standout areas saw substantially more.

Radar estimates put places like Crafton, McKees Rocks, South Fayette, Oakdale, and McDonald in the nearly two-inch range. South Beaver and Beaver Falls also saw large rain totals, according to radar estimates. The other line where big rain totals were possible was right along I-70 from the city of Washington to the west, where totals were also estimated at nearly two inches.

The rain is much-needed right now, with both the state and federal governments highlighting our area as in a drought. When it comes to the federal government, the data cutoff for the next weekly drought map is Tuesday at 8 a.m. The next map will be released on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. I expect we will continue to see marginal improvements on the map, with some places south of I-70 likely being taken off the highlighted ‘area of concern.’ 

Looking ahead, conditions should continue to improve over the next week, with another good rainmaker expected on Saturday and Sunday. The setup will be similar to what we saw Monday and will see Tuesday, with stormy conditions mainly confined to Saturday and more of a rain event developing for Sunday. 

Temperatures will be cooler Tuesday, with highs near 70 and morning lows in the low 60s. Expect off-and-on rain showers through the day with winds out of the west at around 10 mph all day long. 

Tuesday will be another one of those odd days where I want to call it mostly cloudy, but you’re going to see lots of sunshine at times. 

Five minutes later, though, it will be back overcast. 

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