Is it true you couldn't see Pittsburgh from Mount Washington 100 years ago? (Ross Township: neighborhood, live)

[norcider]

There are photos of down town street scenes where it's so dark, it looks like a black fog. Whether or not the film was manipulated I have no idea. But Pittsburgh in its industrial heydey was churning out lots of smoke. Mt Washington/Coal Hill.

[Geeo]

I've seen plenty of pictures of old Pittsburgh where the skies were relatively clear, considering how much industry there was. I think the darkest days may have been taken by newspaper photographers and appeared in the papers. These are the photos that became legend. There's a great old silent film clip around on the interwebs showing people riding the inclines from the 1920s and you could see the city from Mt. Washington, but the smoke did haze everything up, so I think that was more the norm.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by PGH423

Good point about inversions. On that topic, I've been wondering, do we have far more inversions than most areas? And even when there isn't an inversion, it doesn't seem that the hilltops are much colder and snowier than the valleys for some reason. Where I grew up in NY, if you went up 300 or 400 feet in elevation, it was almost always colder, and it would often be snowing and sticking on the hilltops but not at the lower elevations. That doesn't seem to ever happen here, and I've always been curious about it.

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

That is not true. I live n East Hills and we always add 1 - 2 additional inches to the expected snow fall totals. Going from Wilkinsburg to East Hills / Penn Hills there is a noticeable difference. It may be raining or flurries on Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg but by the time I reach my home we have snow on the ground.

What wpipkins said is quite true. The difference from downtown, to say, Plum or Monroeville, will be anywhere between 1 and 3 inches.

[Goinback2011]

Prior to 1950, everyone heated their homes and businesses with coal. It wasn't just heavy industry polluting the city and suburbs.

[krogerDisco]

Originally Posted by gg

No, it really wasn't as bad as people love to pretend it was. Sure it was full of smoke, but for the most part you could see the city from Mt. Washington. People do love to embellish it though. Here is a pretty cool old photo.

I would have liked if they built that bridge further up river. Or use it instead of that blah Veterans Bridge on the Allegheny.

I used to live in Wilkins, in the 1960s. Even then, we could see the stars at night.

[PGH423]

Originally Posted by speagles84

What wpipkins said is quite true. The difference from downtown, to say, Plum or Monroeville, will be anywhere between 1 and 3 inches.

Yeah, I would say I've noticed less snow downtown vs. suburbs. But I don't notice a difference between hill tops and valleys within the same town. Maybe there is a different, and it's just not in my neighborhood, though.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by PGH423

Yeah, I would say I've noticed less snow downtown vs. suburbs. But I don't notice a difference between hill tops and valleys within the same town. Maybe there is a different, and it's just not in my neighborhood, though.

Mount washington definitely has more than Saw Mill Run valley or Station Square for me.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by speagles84

Mount washington definitely has more than Saw Mill Run valley or Station Square for me.

I always notice more in Lawrenceville than places near Downtown as well.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I always notice more in Lawrenceville than places near Downtown as well.

That's an interesting observation. I would think they are identical because they both are low in elevation (relative) and dense.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by speagles84

That's an interesting observation. I would think they are identical because they both are low in elevation (relative) and dense.

Downtown is warmer because of the urban heat island effect I think. This means it takes longer for the ground to cool down enough for snow to stick.