Western Pa. received plenty of rain in 2019, but a record is unlikely
This year may have been one of the wettest in Pennsylvania history, but it’s got a few more inches to go if it wants to top the list.
As of Friday , the Pittsburgh area recorded 51.64 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Normal average annual precipitation for the region is 37.66 inches.
“That puts us 13.98 inches above normal,” said NWS meteorologist Lee Hendricks.
It isn’t sufficient to make 2019 the region’s wettest year on record, though.
That honor goes to 2018, when the area saw 57.83 inches of precipitation — though it took until the final day of the year to claim the top spot from 2004 (57.41 inches.) Currently third on the list, 1990 saw 52.24 inches of rain in the Pittsburgh region, according to the NWS records list.
Spotty light rain and drizzle Friday wasn’t likely to make up the 0.6-inch difference keeping the 2019 total in fourth place all-time.
The forecast for Saturday is dry, though on Sunday widespread rain is expected ahead of a cold front moving across the region Monday. But the expectation on Sunday is up to an inch-and-a-half of rain — far less than the deluge of more than 6 inches to vault 2019 into the top spot.
Over the summer, the region was on a record-setting pace, having received 32.18 inches by late July. At the time, that was a full 2 inches ahead of 2018.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to be that way now,” Hendricks said.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are forecast to be partly sunny with highs near 40 degrees.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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