After five straight days of 90-degree weather, Pittsburgh begins to see a slight cool down
Today should look similar to what it looked like yesterday, with a lot of dry time but storm chances returning for the afternoon.
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I expect storms to develop off of what are known as "outflow boundaries" once again today. These boundaries are ripples in the atmosphere that lift conditionally stable air just enough to kick off storms. Storms develop due to hot and humid air being "buoyant" and lifting.
Sometimes this buoyant air is trapped at the surface by a layer of stable air. These outflow boundaries give this air the 'lift' it needs to break through the stable layer, and that's when storms develop. Back to the outflows, they give the storm every lift or punch to get through the stable layer of air and turn into storms.
When that happens, storms develop, and if conditions are there, severe storms and downpours can happen.
Rain chances both this morning and early in the afternoon should keep highs in the 80s today and not the 90s. Morning temperatures remain in the low 70s, and today will be the sixth day in a row with temperatures remaining above 70° in Pittsburgh.
I have noon temperatures in the mid-80s. Winds should be light today, coming in out of the south.
Looking ahead, we should see some rain on Saturday too.
Right now, model data is showing less rain & storms tomorrow than today, but this has been what model data has done over the past couple of days. Data has consistently underplayed instability coming into each day until the last moment, and then on later runs shows correctly the instability driving storms.
Saturday is included under a level one out of four risk of flash flooding. That may get bumped up, depending on what is expected along with what falls today.
We finally see temperatures dip below 70 degrees in Pittsburgh late Saturday or Sunday morning. Highs on Sunday should hit the upper 80s.
Another round of rain and storms will be around on Monday with highs in the mid-80s.
While rain chances appear low Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with highs each day in the mid-80s.
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