Pittsburgh weather: 'dreary' vs. cold (live, moving, swimming)

[sr1234]

Not sure why...but the last two years have been really overcast with harsher winters.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Johnland

Mmmmmm.....cloudiness. Yeah! I live in Florida and right about this time of year I dream of returning to Pittsburgh. I know you'll think I'm crazy, but incesant sunshine can become tiresome. Slathering sunblock on all exposed skin every day is a chore. You may think it's paradise here, but trust me, it's not. You do reach the point where you no longer want sun exposure on your skin. You wear long sleaves in 95 degree hunid weather, and flip your collars up to keep sun off your neck.

Oh yes, I would love to return to Pittsburgh and its skin friendly dreariness.

Yea, the monotony of continuous warmth and sun does not appeal to me either. I will admit a couple weeks of sun and warmth in February sounds good, but otherwise, you can have it.

[mike02]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Header wouldn't copy. This is a table of % of possible sunshine in a given city in a given month:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...ccd/pctpos.txt

DATA THROUGH 2009 YRS JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC ANN


13739PHILADELPHIA, PA 61 49 53 55 56 57 62 61 62 59 60 52 49 56

94823PITTSBURGH, PA 49 32 36 43 46 50 55 57 56 55 51 36 28 45

Yeah, I can definitely believe that January and Feb. are 30% sunshine.. last winter sunny days were more like holidays! But, on the other hand, this past March and
April had to have had more than 50% possible sunshine. I remember being blinded by all the sunshine. Just go to weather.com and look at the month weather tab for Pgh and Philly. They are pretty much identical. I don't know -- maybe the difference is that Philly had more clear days and Pgh is more on the "partly cloudy" side which is actually pretty nice weather with lots of sun. And last Nov. had more like 50% sunshine. I remember going to a football game when it was 70 degrees and a clear, sunny sky. That whole month had pretty nice sunny and partly cloudy weather -- not that doom and gloom overcast like jan and feb had. There were many mornings in the spring when it began clear and then became more partly cloudy in the afternoon-- but still a lot of sun. Or even sometimes it would be clear, turn to overcast at noon, then clear up an hour later.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by mike02

Yeah, I can definitely believe that January and Feb. are 30% sunshine.. last winter sunny days were more like holidays! But, on the other hand, this past March and
April had to have had more than 50% possible sunshine. I remember being blinded by all the sunshine. Just go to weather.com and look at the month weather tab for Pgh and Philly. They are pretty much identical. I don't know -- maybe the difference is that Philly had more clear days and Pgh is more on the "partly cloudy" side which is actually pretty nice weather with lots of sun. And last Nov. had more like 50% sunshine. I remember going to a football game when it was 70 degrees and a clear, sunny sky. That whole month had pretty nice sunny and partly cloudy weather -- not that doom and gloom overcast like jan and feb had. There were many mornings in the spring when it began clear and then became more partly cloudy in the afternoon-- but still a lot of sun. Or even sometimes it would be clear, turn to overcast at noon, then clear up an hour later.

Pittsburgh is actually a bit colder and much snowier than Philly. Pittsburgh gets on average 40-42 inches of snow a year while Philly usually gets only 20. So we are def colder than they are.

[bradjl2009]

Here is the amount of snow for the last few winters from wunderground.com
Pittsburgh Philly
2003-04 54.2 17.3
2004-05 49.5 30.4
2005-06 32.2 19.5
2006-07 35.7 13.4
2007-08 41.2 6.3
2008-09 41.0 22.8
2009-2010 77.4 78.7
Avg (2003-10) 47.3 26.9

As you can see there is a big difference with snowfall with less than 20 inches in a year being common in Philly and with less than 40 inches in Pittsburgh in a bad year for snowfall. I find it interesting the Pittsburgh almost got as much snow this winter as Philly considering they had several major snows compared to our one megastorm and a few other moderate ones. The lake effect helps us a lot.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by mike02

Yeah, I can definitely believe that January and Feb. are 30% sunshine.. last winter sunny days were more like holidays! But, on the other hand, this past March and
April had to have had more than 50% possible sunshine. I remember being blinded by all the sunshine. Just go to weather.com and look at the month weather tab for Pgh and Philly. They are pretty much identical. I don't know -- maybe the difference is that Philly had more clear days and Pgh is more on the "partly cloudy" side which is actually pretty nice weather with lots of sun. And last Nov. had more like 50% sunshine. I remember going to a football game when it was 70 degrees and a clear, sunny sky. That whole month had pretty nice sunny and partly cloudy weather -- not that doom and gloom overcast like jan and feb had. There were many mornings in the spring when it began clear and then became more partly cloudy in the afternoon-- but still a lot of sun. Or even sometimes it would be clear, turn to overcast at noon, then clear up an hour later.

Of course there are annual variations. That's why it takes years of data to come up with these numbers.

[MorphioMacabre]

I'm from Florida and I can attest that there are plenty of days with sun in Pittsburgh. It's only during the heart of winter that the sun seems to be a rare sight. We had plenty of sun all spring...many days with electric blue skies and no clouds in fact. So far this summer has been partly-cloudy more than anything else.

I think Spring-Summer-Fall in Pittsburgh are all very comfortable and beautiful. Winter can be be "gloomy" and/or intense, but it's nothing compared to some areas frigid cold/masses of snow wise...and the city looks gorgeous blanketed in snow.

[Goodjules]

As a native San Franciscan who lived a big chunk of my life in the Sunset district, I've wondered how Pittsburgh compares in dreariness. SF's Sunset district is notoriously foggy, windy and cold in the summer. For the past 20+ years I've lived in a suburb of SF whose motto is "Climate Best by Government Test" Suffice it to say, we have excellent weather here. I hope to move to Pittsburgh in a few years and I'm concerned about living in a dreary climate again.

I went to the weather.com site and got the average temp's for SF's Sunset district in the summer, but I couldn't find the section with data about how sunny/cloudy/foggy it was. The average temp range for June is 51-57 degrees, July 53-61, Aug 54-63. I know from living there that many of those days are overcast.

Anyway, is there anyone who has lived in SF's foggier neighborhoods as well as in Pittsburgh who could tell me how the summer's compare? I know Pittsburgh is warmer, but is it sunnier?

[mike02]

Originally Posted by juliegt

As a native San Franciscan who lived a big chunk of my life in the Sunset district, I've wondered how Pittsburgh compares in dreariness. SF's Sunset district is notoriously foggy, windy and cold in the summer. For the past 20+ years I've lived in a suburb of SF whose motto is "Climate Best by Government Test" Suffice it to say, we have excellent weather here. I hope to move to Pittsburgh in a few years and I'm concerned about living in a dreary climate again.

I went to the weather.com site and got the average temp's for SF's Sunset district in the summer, but I couldn't find the section with data about how sunny/cloudy/foggy it was. The average temp range for June is 51-57 degrees, July 53-61, Aug 54-63. I know from living there that many of those days are overcast.

Anyway, is there anyone who has lived in SF's foggier neighborhoods as well as in Pittsburgh who could tell me how the summer's compare? I know Pittsburgh is warmer, but is it sunnier?

I'm not from SF or even the West Coast but I know a little bit about weather patterns between the East and West Coast. From spring through fall, Pittsburgh does not experience constant or a lot of consecutive dreary days with complete overcast. The average day would be passing clouds. For example, you might have a clear sunny morning that might become overcast at noon and then the clouds break in the afternoon for a partly cloudy day. Its not really foggy in Pitt. May and June often bring frequent thunderstorms, rain, and overcast. One day will be nice and sunny and the next will be cloudy and rainy. Its not overbearing but just remember the weather changes constantly each day during late spring. By late June-early July, you will see much less rain and more steady dry, sunny days. July can be pretty hot and humid with temps in the high 80s in addition to high humidity. Pittsburgh may have more cloudy days or frequent overcast during summer than SF, but in no way is it overbearing or all the time. I would say your average summer day is around 80 degrees with intervals of clouds and sun. Most days lean partly cloudy or mostly sunny.

[BrianTH]

My mother is from San Francisco and is back in the Bay Area again now (San Mateo). I'm pretty sure the part of SF you are talking about is much more often foggy/cold than Pittsburgh is cloudy/rainy during the summer.