TimB

What do we need, 0.9” to get past 1973-74 to avoid the modern era record?

SNOW SQUALL WARNING NWS PITTSBURGH PA 1102 AM EDT SUN MAR 10 2024 PAC003-125-129-101530- /O.CON.KPBZ.SQ.W.0008.000000T0000Z-240310T1530Z/ 1102 AM EDT SUN MAR 10 2024 Allegheny County-Washington County-Westmoreland County- ...A SNOW SQUALL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1130 AM EDT FOR NORTHERN WASHINGTON...CENTRAL ALLEGHENY AND WEST CENTRAL WESTMORELAND COUNTIES... At 1102 AM EDT, a dangerous snow squall was located along a line extending from near Avella to near Delmont, moving east at 35 mph. HAZARD...Intense bursts of heavy snow. Gusty winds leading to blowing snow and rapidly falling visibility. Wind gusts up to 35 mph. SOURCE...Radar and webcams. IMPACT...Travel will become difficult and potentially dangerous within minutes.

Oh boy, bands of heavy snow everywhere but the north hills. Checking in on @KPITSnow.

NWS has put 1-2” into the grids for Allegheny County tomorrow.

God damnit, we’re going to get screwed out of our warmest first week of March ever because of these damn low clouds keeping us from getting into the upper 50s.

We’re on track for the 3/1 to 3/7 period to be our warmest first week of March ever. Today’s mean will likely come in around 54 or 55, tomorrow’s around 50 or 51 so this shouldn’t move much.

And in February no less.

DuBois!

Yes, @greenskeeper, I’m aware you don’t have a brain.

Daily record. It broke the monthly record by just a degree. The places further north broke monthly records by 5-10 degrees, and in some cases daily records by 12-13 degrees.

Some first order climate sites with long periods of record got almost 10 degrees warmer than any other February day ever. Rockford IL got to 78 after a previous record of 70 and Wausau WI got to 68 after a previous record of 59. Breaking monthly records by almost 10 degrees should be alarming to anyone with a brain.

Look at how it keeps back building. Comical. Never happens with snow.

February especially tho. We now have 2017, 2018, 2023 and 2024. It’s more likely in recent years that we have notable heat than snow.

February is becoming a fringe winter month.

That said, this particular pattern is unprecedented, just not here. There are areas of the upper Midwest that have never hit 60 in February that could go into the mid to upper 60s tomorrow with enough sun and slow frontal timing.

January isn’t nearly as bad on that particular stat. As many 60 degree days in the 1990s as in the past 10 years.

60 degree days in Feb, 1982-present. Draw your own conclusions, but it looks pretty clear to me.

I’ll do it quantitatively too: The average high on March 1st is 43, so I’ll define any day with a high of 43 or above as “spring-like”. With 10 days left of winter, we’ve had 46 spring-like days, and the forecast would suggest 9 of the remaining 10 will be spring-like, bringing us to 55. Only 3 winters have had 55 or more spring-like days, and none of us here experienced any of them: 1889-90, 1879-80, and 1931-32. So none of them were even an apples to apples comparison as they were observed in weird sites.

An early spring would be much more palatable if we actually had winter. All of December, all but one week of January, and all but one evening in February have basically been spring.

Also we’re losing March as a wildcard or a borderline winter month. Assuming this March fails us, that’s 4 out of the last 5 that have had little to no snowfall. 2020: 1.0” 2021: 0.1” 2023: 3.1” 2024: not holding out much hope

Just sucks, and just as a reminder, the all time snow futility record at PIT (16.6” in 1973-74) is still on the table as we’re at 15.3”.

January 1977 is ridiculous. It’s 6 degrees colder at Pittsburgh than any other month on record. Not 6 degrees below normal, 6 degrees below the 2nd coldest month on record.

I’m pretty jealous of anyone who got to live through those late 70s winters. All 3 of them. Likely never be a stretch like that again. 13-14 and 14-15 I guess came close, and the 3 solid winters out of 4 in the 90s.

4” imby.

Yeah the whole thing overperformed.