Summer gets off to cool, wet start, but will it last?
Across Butler County, schools are letting out for the summer, but plans for fun in the sun are being put on hold by Mother Nature.
Between Thursday and Monday, June 5-9, four out of five days were marked by significant amounts of rain, and in some cases, thunderstorms in Butler County. Only trace amounts of rain were recorded in the Pittsburgh area on Saturday.
According to Mike Kennedy, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, the 15-day period between Memorial Day, May 26, and Monday, June 9, is the 24th-coldest on record for the Pittsburgh area in terms of average high temperatures, 3.4 degrees below the average. Temperature records for the Pittsburgh area date back to 1871.
So far, between May 20 and June 8 of this year, the high temperature recorded by the National Weather Service in the Pittsburgh area has only broken 80 degrees on four separate days — all consecutively, from Monday through Thursday, June 2 through 5. Over the same time period last year, the temperature cracked 80 degrees on 10 different days.
Furthermore, between May 20 and June 8 of this year, rain has fallen in the Pittsburgh area on 10 different days for a total of 3.92 inches, compared to eight days and 1.51 inches of rain in the same period last year.
One summer hot spot in Butler County, SEBCO Pool in Jefferson Township, has been hard-hit by the nasty weather. Originally scheduled to open for the season on Memorial Day weekend, it has had to postpone its opening date three times — first to Tuesday, June 3, then to Saturday, June 7, then to Wednesday, June 11.
“Mother Nature is not being kind to pool season kickoff,” the pool wrote on their Facebook page. “Fingers crossed for better weather days ahead and a fun pool season!”
Alameda Park in Butler, operated by the city, was also forced to delay its 2025 season opening from May 31 to June 2 due to inclement weather. Meanwhile, Cranberry Township postponed an outdoor showing of the movie Moana 2 at the newly-opened Armstrong Great Lawn, which was scheduled for May 28, due to “unseasonably cold weather.”
However, Kennedy says that brighter, and warmer, days should be ahead for Butler County residents eager to get their summer on.
“We have a front coming through, so (Tuesday) will be in the mid-70s,” Kennedy said. “There’ll will be a warming trend through the end of the week, so it'll be low 80s by Sunday, which is about normal for this time of year. The next chance of precipitation won't be until later on Friday and into Saturday, and even then we just have like a slight chance in the forecast.”
