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Weeks of rain & cool

Summer less than expected

Some might say that summer didn’t feel quite like summer this year.

That’s because an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure, which brought Canadian air farther south, led to many summer days that were cooler than usual. And not a single day this summer has hit 90 degrees.

“We usually average in June about two days at 90 or above; in July, about four; in August, about three; about nine days that are 90 or above over the summer,” said Alicia Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. “We have had none.”

To be precise there’s still time, though school has resumed summer doesn’t officially end until Sept. 23.

The highest temperature recorded so far at the National Weather Service office in Moon Township, Allegheny County, this year was 89 degrees on June 17, which is technically a few days before summer begins.

The same can be said about temperatures in Butler County. According to the National Weather Service’s NOW Data, the hottest days in the past three months were June 18 and July 23, both hitting 88 degrees. The warmest day in August was the 31st, when the high was 86.

Miller said the Pittsburgh area hasn’t had a 100-degree day since July 1995.

Miller also said rainfall was about an inch above average in July and August. Four inches of rain is about average in July, and 3 inches of rain in August. As of Aug. 26, about 4 inches of rain had been recorded that month.

And nearly half of that occurred in one day. On Aug. 20, 1.8 inches of rain hit the area, a record for that day.

Dave Andrews, a science teacher at Butler Junior High School who maintains a weather station on the school roof, said the station shows the same types of rain numbers in Butler.

“Generally, over the summer, we’ve got a whole lot of rain,” he said. “By our counts here, we’re 6 to 7 inches above normal for the last three months. Overall, we’re about 9 or 10 inches above for the year.”

The National Weather Service NOW Data reveals Butler had its heaviest rain days on June 5 at 1.46 inches, June 24 at 1.87 inches, July 28 at 1.82 inches and Aug. 12 at 1.11 inches.

What can we expect for fall?

“They’re thinking that we’re going to be slightly above normal in temperature,” Miller said.

According to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, high temperature averages for the Pittsburgh area, which are calculated using temperatures from 1981 to 2010, are 74 degrees in September, 63 in October and 51 in November.

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