Gusts of wind and cracks of thunder are set to announce the end of a largely unprecedented heat wave that swept through Western Pennsylvania and much of the U.S. last week.
Starting on Monday, the Pittsburgh area saw average temperatures rise above 85 degrees for six consecutive days — with the high reaching a sweltering 94 degrees on four of those days, according to data from the National Weather Service (NWS).
Nationally, more than 100 million people were under heat alerts this weekend: in the tri-state region of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, as well as Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, New York, and Maryland.
The NWS Pittsburgh office announced a handful of record highs, including in DuBois, Pa., and New Philadelphia, Ohio. Other regions of the U.S., such as New England, also saw record-breaking high temperatures; Boston, for example, hit 98 degrees on Wednesday.
In Pittsburgh, temperatures fell just short of a historic spike in June 1994, NWS data shows. During that six-day heat wave, Pittsburgh saw three days reach 97 degrees and three others reach 95 degrees.
Pittsburgh experienced its longest heat wave in 1988 when, from July 4 to 16 of that year, the highs soared above 90 degrees for 13 days straight. The second-longest heat wave occurred June 30 to July 10, 1878, with 11 days featuring high temperatures ranging from 90 to 97 degrees and an average daily temperature of 80 degrees or higher.
The city’s most intense heat wave, on the other hand, came nearly a century ago in July 1936 — an eight-day run in which three days peaked above 100 degrees.
Ahead of the scorching heat, multiple state agencies issued health advisories to encourage residents to protect themselves from the risks of heat-related illness. Last year set the record for heat-related deaths nationwide, with more than 2,300 people dying from complications with heat, according to the an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
After the heat wave’s onset Monday, rates of heat-related visits to the emergency department spiked in Pennsylvania and neighboring states including West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
According to CDC data as of late last week, from Monday through Friday, that region of states saw a daily average of 362 emergency department visits per 100,000 that were heat-related — ballooning from a daily average of 118 per 100,000 over the same time period in the region the prior week.
In a statement to the Post-Gazette, the Pennsylvania Department of Health warned of the risk of heat exhaustion or heatstroke — which can be life-threatening — from prolonged exposure to the high temperatures.
“It’s critically important for Pennsylvanians to keep an eye out for and take care of each other, and the Shapiro Administration will be here to support our county partners throughout the coming days,” said Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, in its Monday release.
As the dangerously high temperatures moved into the Pittsburgh area, the city and other municipalities activated cooling centers throughout the week to provide residents with shelter.
Homeless shelters and street outreach programs also prepared for a surge in demand during the extreme heat, especially after a recent fire at Second Avenue Commons displaced dozens of people — a disaster Allegheny County Director of Human Services Erin Dalton called an “unprecedented crisis.”
The county later announced that displaced residents will be moved to an emergency shelter on the North Side.
With Sunday’s high expected to reach 89 degrees — the first day below 90 since the heat wave began — National Weather Service meteorologists are predicting a period of showers and thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 28 miles per hour to follow the intense heat evening Sunday evening and late into the night.
Last Monday’s heat and humidity acted as a catalyst for severe thunderstorms that swept across Western Pennsylvania in the early evening. These storms caused significant disruptions, leading to tens of thousands of power outages and heightening concerns about how residents would cope.
Duquesne Light reported that more than 85,000 customers had lost power on Monday evening “due to roughly 60 broken poles and 40 transformer issues.” As of Wednesday evening, about 1,600 utility customers in the area remained without power while crews worked to repair the damage.
The company reported that the outages had been resolved as of Sunday afternoon.
First Published: June 23, 2024, 4:47 p.m.
Updated: June 24, 2024, 5:02 p.m.
