Pittsburgh Int'l (KPIT) as the local climatology station of record (Philadelphia: neighborhood, airport)

[Qilin34]

Since there are no NWS-maintained stations in downtown Pgh, I was wondering from natives/long-time residents of the area the degree to which KPIT is representative of areas within city limits, climatewise. Intuitively, the airport's higher elevation (by over 100 m) and location on a pseudo-plateau, as opposed to a river valley simply begs for the occasional temperature inversion, causing valley locations to be colder in the morning, or trapping of heat (valley cools down less at night/heats up more readily during day). There's also the UHI, too.

For starters, data for the closest station to the downtown triangle and KPIT itself. I've also seen Allegheny County Airport used by some weather apps.

[Craziaskowboi]

Pittsburgh International Airport definitely trends cooler than the city itself during the summer. Not only is this due to the difference in elevation, but it's also due to the fact that there's virtually no urban heat island effect around the airport. The weather station is actually off the airport property, about three miles north of the terminal in a heavily wooded area. Compare this with the location of the stations in Cleveland, Columbus and Indianapolis. Because of both these factors, extreme heat tends to be blunted compared to other cities of a similar latitude. For example, the all-time record high temperatures in Indianapolis, Columbus and Philadelphia are 106°, and in Harrisburg it's 107°, but in Pittsburgh it's only 103°. Pittsburgh's official weather station is at the highest elevation of all stations located in metropolitan areas with at least 1,000,000 population east of the Mississippi River, and only Atlanta joins it over 1,000' above sea level.

[Qilin34]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Pittsburgh International Airport definitely trends cooler than the city itself during the summer. Not only is this due to the difference in elevation, but it's also due to the fact that there's virtually no urban heat island effect around the airport. The weather station is actually off the airport property, about three miles north of the terminal in a heavily wooded area. Compare this with the location of the stations in Cleveland, Columbus and Indianapolis. Because of both these factors, extreme heat tends to be blunted compared to other cities of a similar latitude. For example, the all-time record high temperatures in Indianapolis, Columbus and Philadelphia are 106°, and in Harrisburg it's 107°, but in Pittsburgh it's only 103°. Pittsburgh's official weather station is at the highest elevation of all stations located in metropolitan areas with at least 1,000,000 population east of the Mississippi River, and only Atlanta joins it over 1,000' above sea level.

What about winter and the shoulder seasons then? The station I provided is not too far from downtown and actually averages slightly colder minima from November thru April, but remains warmer in the day. Are these differences enough to consider KPIT a "poor representative" of downtown? In my books, BWI is an example of being far-removed from climatically from downtown, however accurately it may represent surrounding areas, but let's not go there, please.

[ditchdigger]

If you're trying to for any extreme degree of accuracy, Pittsburgh's topography is so varied that it's difficult if not impossible to pick one spot that can be called representative of the whole area. Certainly, KPIT is going to be a poor representative of downtown, but what's to say that "Downtown" is a good representative of as non-specific a term as "areas within city limits"? Elevation at Point State Park is in the neighborhood of 725, while some spots on Mt Washington are over 1,200.

On this one small map, elevations range from pool level at the Point of 703, to 1,165 at the intersection of Bigham St. and Grandview Ave.: maps:*001e1929*1

Anecdotally, I've had to plow snow (meaning 2+ inches), on Mt Washington, while lots I had downtown were only wet...