It may be September, but it’s not sweater weather yet.
Unseasonably high temperatures have persisted so far this month.
“It’s a little warmer, a little above average,” Bill Modzelewski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon, said Monday.
Temperatures on Monday were in the lower 80s, and Tuesday’s forecast predicted temperatures around 85 degrees. That’s higher than usual for September, when the normal temperature is typically around 76 or 77 degrees, Modzelewski said.
The temperatures may dip slightly Wednesday, when the National Weather Service is anticipating “off-and-on” rain, but the end of the week will see temperatures climb back into the upper 70s, Modzelewski said.
“This weekend should be back to the 80- to 85-degree range,” he said.
Those warmer temperatures likely will continue into early next week.
“We get, sometimes this time of year, some southwestern winds bringing in some warmer air,” Modzelewski said, explaining that’s the reason for the above-average temperatures.
The region also has seen above-average rainfall recently, with the remnants of tropical depressions Fred and Ida hitting the region.
Southwestern Pennsylvania could see remnants of tropical storms bringing even more rainfall this year, he said, as tropical storms can persist into the fall.
“It gets rarer as we get farther into fall season,” he said, adding those chances become slimmer by October and November.
As for the unseasonably high temperatures, Modzelewski said that likely will continue until the end of the month.
“It looks like probably near average for the time of the year by the end of September,” he said.
By the last week of September, he’s anticipating high temperatures to be in the mid- to low-70s.
“September’s usually kind of a transitional month where you can get some cool weather, then some warm weather,” he said. “It starts to really transition (to fall) closer to October.”
