Jun 19, 2024 3 min read

Are you enjoying this wacky spring weather? Yes, I said spring. Summer doesn’t officially arrive until 4:51 p.m. Thursday.

By then, we’ll be sweltering in yet another day of above-normal temperatures (average highs for mid- to late June in Pittsburgh are around 80 degrees). April and May both ended 5.3 degrees warmer than normal for Pittsburgh with above normal rainfall. April was super soggy, drenching us with more than four inches above average precipitation followed by an unusually active severe weather pattern in May that spawned nearly a dozen tornadoes across Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Now comes June, which has been fairly pleasant so far. This week brought the heat with a chance at breaking record highs in the mid- to even upper 90s in some spots. We get our fair share of 90-degree days in this area with Pittsburgh’s average at around 10 of them each year. What’s unusual about this heat wave is that it’s happening in June, which is early for us. June can bring hot days – the hottest day recorded in Pittsburgh in June was 98 degrees on June 22, 1988.

If you remember the summer of 1988 as being a scorcher, you are correct. The all-time highest temperature ever reached in Pittsburgh is 103 degrees, which happened on July 16, 1988 (and also on Aug. 6, 1918, and July 10, 1881). Pittsburgh’s longest heat wave also happened that year between July 4 and 16, when the temperature hit either the 90s or triple digits. The next month, we endured nine straight days in the 90s, one high of 89 and then a high of 100 on Aug. 17, 1988.

We hit 91 last September, 94 in June 2022 and 95 in September 2018. The last time we reached 97 degrees was July 2012, and the last 100-degree day in Pittsburgh was Aug.t 17, 1988. The last time we hit 101 degrees was Aug. 7, 1918.

You might also remember the summer of 1994 being hot. Pittsburgh set a record for most consecutive days above 95 degrees in late June 1994 (tied with August 1900) with the city setting a record high six days in a row. The summer of 1995 saw two heat waves in July and August.

More recently, Aug. 31 to Sept. 9, 2015, brought 10 days in the upper 80s and lower 90,s and July 2020 had eight straight days with highs in the lower 90s.

Definitions of the term “heat wave” vary from country to country, but the U.S. National Weather Service defines a heat wave as “a period of abnormally and uncomfortably hot and unusually humid weather typically lasting two or more days.” I’d say this week meets the criteria – especially with little to no relief at night, with lows not dipping much below 70 degrees.

Summer officially arrives tomorrow. Let’s hope it takes it easy on us!

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.