A winter storm might have sent the Pittsburgh region into a deep freeze early Friday morning, but residual impacts will be felt throughout the holiday weekend with Christmas Eve predicted to be one of the coldest on record.
Powerful winds knocked out power for many customers throughout Western Pennsylvania, as frigid temperatures continued Saturday. As of 9 a.m. Saturday morning, Duquesne Light was reporting 81 outages that were affecting more than 900 customers in Allegheny County.
At Pittsburgh International, 19 flights had been canceled Saturday. Temperatures reached 2 degrees as of 9 a.m. at the airport, according to the National Weather Service.
Conditions on Saturday will remain cold after a second arctic front moved through the region. Winds will decrease a bit, although wind chills will still reach minus-13 degrees Saturday night.
There is a 20% chance of snow, which would likely be flurries because “there isn’t enough moisture out there to give us any snow,” said Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon.
While a wind chill warning was lifted for most parts of the Pittsburgh area early Saturday morning, a wind chill advisory was issued lasting through noon Christmas Day. The advisory calls for “very cold wind chills” reaching between minus-10 and minus-10 degrees. The chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.
Lasting impacts were also felt across the nation, where the unprecedentedly large storm stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. It caused about 60% of the U.S. population to be put under a winter weather advisory or warning throughout the weekend.
Freezing rain left much of the Pacific Northwest in a layer of ice, while people in the Northeast faced the possibility of coastal and inland flooding, the Associated Press reported. Arctic temperatures spread as far as Florida and Texas.
Temperatures early Friday morning quickly plunged from the 30s down to single digits. The low temperature rang in at minus-5 degrees, which is the coldest low temperature recorded for that day, Mr. Hendricks said.
That surpassed the previous low temperature record of minus-3 degrees set in 1960.
Additionally, Christmas Eve is slated to break the lowest high temperature on record. Saturday’s high is expected to reach eight degrees. The last time a record was set was on Christmas Eve in 1983 when the lowest high temperature reached 13 degrees.
Still, the Pittsburgh region will not reach the record low temperature set in 1983, which landed at minus-11 degrees. Instead, the area will see low temperatures hovering seven degrees going into Saturday night.
“That’s a fairly miserable Christmas Eve I would think,” Mr. Hendricks said of the 1983 low record.
Good news - the wind chill warning is no longer in effect outside of the mountains!
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) December 24, 2022
Not so good news - it has been replaced with a wind chill advisory until 12pm Christmas Day.
Bottom line: wind chills -10 to -20 outside the higher elevations, so continued #coldweather
The Pittsburgh region woke up on Friday to plummeting temperatures, high winds and some snowfall after a front moved into the area in the early morning. It caused temperatures in the 30s to rapidly fall to the single digits and 45 to 55 mph gusts led to wind chills in the -20s. That caused a flash freeze that created hazardous roadways and led to thousands of power outages across the area.
The wind chill at the NWS office was minus-25 a little after noon Friday. The last time it was that low was Jan. 30-31, 2019, when it hovered at that level for 13 hours.
Several school districts made the decision to close or move to remote learning Friday and restrictions were put in place for several parts of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Most highways were restored to normal speed limits by late afternoon, but the Parkway North HOV lanes were to be closed into Saturday morning.
Less than an inch of snow fell throughout the morning in most parts of the region, although higher elevations to the east and south over the West Virginia mountains recorded 3-4 inches.
While little to no new snowfall is expected, Mr. Hendricks cautioned that what is already on the ground could be blown around by high winds over the next 24 hours, leading to periods of low visibility.
Impacts were also felt across the country after the storm that spanned about 2,000 miles knocked out power from Texas to Maine, created blizzard conditions in Minnesota and New York, led to coastal flooding warnings in New England and caused arctic temperatures to spread as far as Florida and Texas, The New York Times reported.
The severe weather Friday disrupted holiday travel throughout much of the country. Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed Friday and multiple roads were closed because of the weather. In Ohio, four died after a 50-car pileup on the turnpike Friday afternoon.
More than 17,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled or delayed Friday, according to FlightAware. On Saturday, that number was at more than 1,580.
At Pittsburgh International, 79 flights scheduled for Friday were canceled.
In Western Pennsylvania, those bone-chilling temperatures led to NWS issuing a wind chill warning that is in effect until noon Saturday. The warning calls for dangerously cold wind chills that could go as low as -35 degrees and could lead to frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
Still, the conditions were largely what was expected Friday, Mr. Hendricks said, although temperatures were lower than originally predicted.
“It’s one of those things where it happened and you almost wish it didn’t happen,” Mr. Hendricks said.
Unpleasant conditions will continue throughout Saturday with winds at about 20 to 25 mph, and gusts reaching as high as 45 mph. Given the already cold temperatures, those gusts could bring wind chills of between -20 and -30 degrees.
Warming shelters were opened in Pittsburgh starting Friday to help those experiencing homelessness have a warm place to stay, and to also offer options for people who do not currently have power.
Cold temperatures are expected to remain throughout Christmas Day.
Temperatures on Sunday will reach a high of 17 degrees, with a low of 10 expected overnight, according to a NWS forecast. Winds will be between 15 and 20 mph with gusts of about 30 mph. That means wind chills could get as low as -11 throughout the morning.
Snow is not expected to fall on Christmas, but whatever accumulated between Friday and Saturday will remain thanks to frigid temperatures.
The weather will seemingly break going into the start of the week, with highs on Monday expected to be in the low 20s. While temperatures will drop to between 15 and 20 degrees overnight, they will rise to around 30 degrees on Tuesday.
By mid-week, temperatures will hit the mid-30s before creeping into the upper 40s by Thursday. In all, Thursday – which will be partly sunny – will see highs peaking around 47 degrees.
Snow is not expected all week.
According to AccuWeather, however, rain will move through toward the end of the week, dropping temperatures slightly.
But going into the New Year’s weekend, temperatures will remain above-average, NWS found.
Despite the potential reprieve later next week, Mr. Hendricks stressed that people need to take precautions as they move through their holiday plans this weekend.
“If people go outside, minimize the amount of exposure you have, layer clothing, if you have pets and take your dog outside don’t leave them out there,” Mr. Hendricks said. “The wind chills will affect them just as much as they affect us.”
First Published: December 24, 2022, 12:43 a.m.
Updated: December 24, 2022, 2:44 p.m.
