People flock outside as Western Pa. experiences 61-degree swing

Runners and walkers packed the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh and disc golfers at Deer Lakes Parks were ready to break out their shorts Sunday.

Even morning temperatures of 36 degrees were warm enough for Tom Gillespie and Kristin Agona to enjoy their run through downtown Greensburg.

“This is like hitting the Powerball,” Gillespie said.

Two weeks ago, the pair from Pleasant-Unity ran an eight-miler in Mammoth Park in 10-degree weather, but with warmer temps Sunday, they were shooting for a 13-mile run.

The region experienced a 61-degree swing from a mid-week low of 5 degrees below zero to Sunday’s high of 56, said Lee Hendricks, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon.

Winter still hung around Allegheny County parks Sunday. Piles of used Christmas trees awaited mulching, and melting snow berms ringed parking lots. The snow left on the ground was “not fun snow – it’s mushy and muddy” said Ruth Cunningham, 50, of West Deer.

Several groups of disc golfers were out Sunday at Deer Lakes’ 18-hole disc golf course. Chad Stevenson, 34, of Lower Burrell, had shorts on under his gray sweatpants. He expected to strip down to them as temperatures climbed Sunday.

“We shoveled snow from the tee pads last week but waited until it was 20 degrees,” Stevenson said.

Matthew Barvinchak of Harrison said his family survived being cooped up in the house Wednesday through Friday with the frigid weather and school cancellations by “playing a lot of board games,” he said. On Sunday, his children, Maci, 9, and Matthew, 3, romped on an elevated walkway between slides and playground stations at the Watts Memorial Overlook at Harrison Hills Park in Harrison.

Waterproof boots were required and the snowballs were flying from the diminishing mounds of snow.

Shaler resident Carol Shields was happy to be out walking in the sunshine along the Allegheny Heritage Trail on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. Shields said she typically walks the trail in the summers but hasn’t made it out during the cold winter months.

“It’s a warm, beautiful day,” she said. “I dressed too warmly.”

Shields said she loves to get out along the water.

“I enjoy the rivers,” she said.

But some still like the ice, like Lou Schmidt. Despites the relative heat wave this weekend, Schmidt stood out on the ice drilling a fishing hole at Twin Lakes Park in Hempfield.

A couple passing between the lakes asked Schmidt about the thickness of the ice. After a brief pause, Schmidt, 37, of Greensburg shrugged his shoulders and said, “Six, seven inches, maybe?”

The warming weather didn’t stop at least two dozen people from walking out onto the lake for a little ice fishing Sunday afternoon.

“Thick enough” was a common answer when asked how much ice was below their feet.

“I wanted to be out there earlier in the week, but I was working,” Schmidt said. “This is one of my favorite spots to fish. It’s close to home, and I pretty much grew up coming out here.”

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary Ann at 724-226-4691, mthomas@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaThomas_Trib.