what's the real story on Pgh Climate?

[gg]

Originally Posted by Copanut

While I enjoy the 4 Seasons, this upcoming week of sub 32 degree temps is not to my liking.

Then you don't enjoy 4 seasons. Sub 32 is needed to have a winter and prohibit snow melting. I am thrilled with this wonderful week! I have been riding my bike every day in this weather and it is amazingly beautiful. On the way home from work I passed a jogger and he said, hello, and I replied, it is a great night for a run and he replied, it is a great night for a bike ride. We were both really enjoying the wonderful snow falling and how quiet it makes the city. It truly is a great time of year and I really feel for those that prefer one type of weather. My least favorite weather is cold rain. It melts all the snow and is dreary. Hence my love for sub 32 degrees!

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Then you don't enjoy 4 seasons. Sub 32 is needed to have a winter and prohibit snow melting. I am thrilled with this wonderful week! I have been riding my bike every day in this weather and it is amazingly beautiful. On the way home from work I passed a jogger and he said, hello, and I replied, it is a great night for a run and he replied, it is a great night for a bike ride. We were both really enjoying the wonderful snow falling and how quiet it makes the city. It truly is a great time of year and I really feel for those that prefer one type of weather. My least favorite weather is cold rain. It melts all the snow and is dreary. Hence my love for sub 32 degrees!

It will probably sound odd to you coming from a Native Californian, but I went outside more on the very cold days after it snowed than I did on the cold rainy days when the temperature was just above freezing. It doesn't feel as cold to me if I'm dry and moving around, especially if there's no wind. I found it quite pleasant and beautiful. Now here's something even odder (is odder a word?), I find it feels colder in SF in July on the west side of the city when it's grey and foggy and the wind is howling. That damp air combined with the wind is bone chilling. Let me clarify, it feels colder than clear still weather after a snowfall in PA. Does not feel colder than blowing snow or freezing rain. I'm with h_curtis, a still day after a snowfall is lovely.

[HarryRSpooner]

The winters seem a bit shorter and slightly less brutal than downstate New York.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by juliegt

It will probably sound odd to you coming from a Native Californian, but I went outside more on the very cold days after it snowed than I did on the cold rainy days when the temperature was just above freezing. It doesn't feel as cold to me if I'm dry and moving around, especially if there's no wind. I found it quite pleasant and beautiful. Now here's something even odder (is odder a word?), I find it feels colder in SF in July on the west side of the city when it's grey and foggy and the wind is howling. That damp air combined with the wind is bone chilling. Let me clarify, it feels colder than clear still weather after a snowfall in PA. Does not feel colder than blowing snow or freezing rain. I'm with h_curtis, a still day after a snowfall is lovely.

I'm with you! As a person who is out in the weather pretty much all week all year long, the coldest days to me are always the ones when it is windy and the temperature is just enough above freezing that it rains instead of snows. A 30 degree day with crazy wind and icy rain definitely feels colder to me than a still 15 degree day.

I've only spent a really limited time in California, though, so I can't extrapolate. I'll just take your word for it, haha.

[pghdude28]

I think the overall climate here is mediocre, IMO. It just barely misses the mark of having some of the crappiest weather in the country. Very high number of grey days (including days with sun peaking through), constantly changing temperatures, cold/slushy/rainy/icy/dreary winter, etc. If you like 4 seasons and weather variety, this is the place for you! If you like endless sunshine, this is one of the last places I'd move to. Between Halloween and Easter, the sky is perpetually grey day in and day out. Even when the sun shines in the winter, it's usually shining through the greyness. You rarely see a blue sky here in the winter or even part of one. The sun made several appearances last week, but again it was sunny "overcast," not a beautiful blue sky. Summers are great though. Plenty of blue sky and sun mixed in with some passing clouds.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by JayTwila

The winters seem a bit shorter and slightly less brutal than downstate New York.

This upcoming storm is an example of that, right? I heard NY will get slammed but it won't be as bad in Pittsburgh.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Caladium

This upcoming storm is an example of that, right? I heard NY will get slammed but it won't be as bad in Pittsburgh.

We're expecting essentially nothing from that, as far as I can tell, a coating to an inch is noted for tomorrow. The biggest will be up around Boston they seem to be saying. Merger of two storms with one off the coast. But the one from the west is coming well north of here I guess.

It doesn't seem like we've had a big run of super overcast days in a row this year. It's been broken up pretty well, like yesterday. The ongoing argument stems I think from people seeing what they want to see. Weather is one of my least concerns really in the winter when I'm not doing any outside work anyway and only occasional lengthy stints outside, so while it's not as clear in the winter here as any number of other places, I don't feel it weighing on me. And I notice and enjoy the times that we DO get sun, and I really think there have been plenty of them so far this winter without huge couple-week stretches of gray. Others are apparently far more affected by some extra gray days, get mired in it and take the description to the other extreme.

[gg]

Originally Posted by greg42

The ongoing argument stems I think from people seeing what they want to see.

I agree, but Pittsburgh is really different than any place I have ever been to. I can't tell you how many people I talk to about weather and so many tell me they don't understand Pittsburgh people's attitude towards weather. Most say Pittsburgh people are wimps. I mean, look how we go crazy over a little snow. Most Pittsburgh people couldn't handle real winter, like you would have in Buffalo for example. People I talk to from Seattle and they all tell me Pittsburgh weather is much better than out there. I think it just feeds on itself in our region the never ending complaining and the media always referring to snow as bad or winter as bad. They always have referred to rain or snow as bad. Probably comes from the old yinzer crowd that worked hard and were sore all the time and when the damp weather hit, they complained nonstop about it. That is all I can figure. I think I will take our rain and lush landscape. If you want dry, head out to the midwest and their drying up lakes. We are blessed so far and can still grow great crops and enjoy ourselves. Maybe people need to get out more. I lived in Florida for almost a decade. The sun pounding on me all the time got old. Some people love it though.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I lived in Florida for almost a decade. The sun pounding on me all the time got old. Some people love it though.

Florida gets old to me after about a week! But that's me. I'm going down there soon for a short visit. At this time of year, it's usually not too bad. Oops, I called it bad! LOL. Drenching humidity is the worst "bad" weather to me, followed by 90+ heat. But I don't normally go around in August saying wow the weather is really bad right now. It's just hot. Last week, it was just cold. And so on.