Pittsburgh weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends
Pittsburgh is one of the cloudiest cities in the country, a grey and hilly place at the meeting of three rivers where the weather seldom runs to extremes. Pittsburgh weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, records and how the climate has changed since 1940.
Today vs average
+0.7°Fhigh near average
How it's changed
+3.7°Faverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–4978frost days a year now (2016–2025) · 102 in the 1940sfrost days a year · 102 in the 1940s37days above 86°F a year now (2016–2025) · 15 in the 1940sdays above 86°F · 15 in the 1940s+3.7°F vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 3.7 incheshigh 37°low 23°February, rain 3.4 incheshigh 41°low 25°March, rain 4.5 incheshigh 51°low 33°April, rain 4.6 incheshigh 63°low 43°May, rain 5.1 incheshigh 72°low 52°June, rain 4.9 incheshigh 80°low 61°July, rain 4.6 incheshigh 83°low 65°August, rain 4.0 incheshigh 82°low 64°September, rain 3.7 incheshigh 76°low 57°October, rain 3.4 incheshigh 64°low 46°November, rain 3.7 incheshigh 52°low 37°December, rain 3.7 incheshigh 41°low 28°wettest month May, 5.1 inches · 49.4 inches a yearsee month by month →Right now
What it's doing today vs the historical average for this date.Right now
61.0°
On this date: October 12
High near average · +0.7°F
- Record high: 83.3° · 1954
- Record low: 27.3° · 1964
- One year ago: 67° / 50°
Every October 12 in history, coldest to hottest
Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 12 on record (n = 87). Outlined dots are today's forecast.
Area we sample
Each city's history comes from one ERA5 grid cell, about 28 km across, shown by the dashed box. Near mountains or coasts, conditions can vary across the cell.
Location & data
Historical weather for Pittsburgh is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 40.44°N, 80.00°W, with daily records since 1940.
- Coordinates
- 40.44°N, 80.00°W
- Time zone
- America/New York
- Period
- 1940–2026
- Data source
- ERA5 (ECMWF)
Last 30 days
19 of the last 31 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +2.1°F.
Each bar is one day, from morning low to afternoon high. Warm-colored bars are days whose mean ran above average; cool bars ran below. The dot inside the bar is the daily mean. The shaded band is the typical 10–90% range expected for that date. Average = the day's mean temperature averaged across every year of record (1940–2026) for that calendar date.
This date over the years
One dot per year, showing the mean temperature on this calendar date. Dots are warmer or cooler than the long-term average (dashed line); the shaded band is the typical 10–90% range, and the highlighted dot is today's forecast. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Weather by month
Average temperatures and rainfall for each month: a typical year, from the full record.Climate overview
Built where the Allegheny and Monongahela join to form the Ohio, Pittsburgh spreads across the hills of the Allegheny Plateau in western Pennsylvania. On the windward side of the Appalachians, it has a humid climate that straddles the line between continental and subtropical (Köppen Dfa or Cfa, depending on the threshold used), and genuinely extreme heat is rare. Its most distinctive trait is the lack of sun: the city sees roughly 200 cloudy days a year, among the most overcast in the United States.
The rivers that made Pittsburgh an industrial giant are also its chief hazard. The worst came with the St Patrick's Day flood of March 1936, when the rivers crested about 14 metres high at the Point, killed dozens of people and wrecked much of downtown. Winters are cold and snowy without often turning severe, and summers are warm and humid, ironically the sunniest stretch of an otherwise grey year.
July brings the year's peak warmth, with afternoons typically reaching 83.3°F and nights around 65.0°F. Around 40 nights a year stay above 68°F. In January, the coolest month, afternoons reach about 37.3°F and nights dip to 23.5°F. Around 80 days a year dip below freezing.
The yearly total for Pittsburgh comes to about 49.4 inches; monthly amounts range from 3.4 inches in February up to 5.1 inches in May.
Over the full record (since 1940), the annual mean temperature in Pittsburgh has risen by 3.7°F between its first decade and its last. Days above 86°F have grown noticeably more frequent, from around 15 a year in the first decade to about 35 in the last.
Climate graph (climograph)
July is the warmest month, January the coolest: a yearly swing of 44°F. Wettest month: May (~5.1 in). Whole year averages ~49.4 inches of rain.
Bars = average monthly rainfall (right axis). Lines = average daily high and low (left axis). Average = each month's value averaged across every year of record (1940–2026).
Rainy days by month
About 125 rainy days a year: most in May (~13), fewest in October (~8).
Bars = average number of days with ≥ 0.08 in per month. Hover for the monthly rainfall total.
Monthly wind
Average daily peak wind at 10 m, by month.
Monthly solar energy
Average daily incoming solar energy in megajoules per square metre: the record's own proxy for how sunny the month is.
Pittsburgh month by month: what to expect
Typical conditions for each month, averaged across the full record (since 1940). Daylight is the time from sunrise to sunset. Record high/low are the most extreme values in the ERA5 dataset (modelled since 1940), so they can differ from official weather-station readings.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain | Rainy days | Daylight | Record high | Record low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37.3° | 23.5° | 3.7 in | 10 | 9.4 h | 75.1° (1950) | −19.2° (1994) |
| February | 40.9° | 25.2° | 3.4 in | 9 | 10.5 h | 77.5° (2018) | −14.2° (1951) |
| March | 50.8° | 33.0° | 4.5 in | 11 | 11.7 h | 84.0° (1986) | −8.3° (1996) |
| April | 62.8° | 42.9° | 4.6 in | 12 | 13.1 h | 90.0° (1976) | 10.5° (1982) |
| May | 71.8° | 52.4° | 5.1 in | 13 | 14.2 h | 91.7° (2011) | 27.6° (1970) |
| June | 79.8° | 60.9° | 4.9 in | 12 | 14.9 h | 98.6° (2012) | 35.8° (1972) |
| July | 83.3° | 65.0° | 4.6 in | 12 | 14.6 h | 101.9° (1988) | 46.4° (1963) |
| August | 81.8° | 63.5° | 4.0 in | 10 | 13.6 h | 97.6° (1988) | 39.5° (1982) |
| September | 75.5° | 57.0° | 3.7 in | 9 | 12.3 h | 98.9° (1953) | 34.1° (1956) |
| October | 64.3° | 46.2° | 3.4 in | 8 | 10.9 h | 89.8° (2019) | 21.3° (1965) |
| November | 51.9° | 37.2° | 3.7 in | 9 | 9.7 h | 81.0° (2024) | 2.1° (1958) |
| December | 41.2° | 28.3° | 3.7 in | 10 | 9.1 h | 75.0° (1982) | −15.6° (1942) |
How it's changed
Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.Climate stripes
Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +3.7°F.
Each vertical stripe is one year. Color encodes how much that year's annual mean differed from the long-term average. Average = each year's annual mean compared to the average of all years (1940–2026). cooler ← → warmer
Annual mean temperature
Long-term trend: +0.41°F per decade.
One point per year, showing the temperature averaged across the whole year. The dashed line is the least-squares long-term trend. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Seasonal warming
Mar–May is warming fastest: +0.54°F per decade.
Each faint line is one three-month period's average per year; the bold dashed line is its long-term trend. Different parts of the year often warm at different rates. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Hot days vs frost days
Days ≥ 86°F per year: 15.3 early in the record → 37.4 recently. Frost days: 102 → 78.
Thin lines are raw yearly counts; thick lines are the smoothed trend that removes year-to-year noise. The hot-day threshold is auto-picked per city so the line actually moves. Average = a centered 5-year rolling average to smooth weather noise.
Yearly hot & cold extremes
All-time high in 1988, all-time low in 1994: 101.9°F / −19.2°F.
One point per year: the single hottest and coldest day recorded that year.
Annual rainfall
~49.4 in/year on average. Last decade: +9% vs that average. Long-term trend: +0.47 in per decade.
One bar per year of total rainfall. Dashed line is the long-term average. Average = the average annual rainfall across every year of record (1940–2026).
Day-by-day grid
Each tiny square is one calendar day across the full record, about 30,000 days per city. Use the mode switch above the chart: Anomaly colors each day by how far it ran from the historical average for that date (red = warmer, blue = cooler), Daily mean temp shows the absolute mean temperature for the day (useful to see seasons and heatwaves), and Precipitation shows daily rainfall (useful to spot wet/dry seasons and droughts). Average = the long-term average for that calendar date (1940–2026).
Frequently asked questions about Pittsburgh
Which is the warmest month in Pittsburgh?
How does today's temperature in Pittsburgh compare to the historical average?
How much has Pittsburgh warmed since 1940?
How much does it rain in Pittsburgh?
What is the average temperature in Pittsburgh?
What are the average temperatures in Pittsburgh by month?
What is the weather like in Pittsburgh in summer?
What is the weather like in Pittsburgh in winter?
What is the weather like in Pittsburgh in spring?
What is the weather like in Pittsburgh in autumn?
How many days a year does it rain in Pittsburgh?
Weather in nearby cities
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- Columbus73°/61°today+5.3°vs average
- Buffalo66°/54°today+5.1°vs average
- Amherst67°/53°today+5.5°vs average
- Arlington71°/59°today+2.3°vs average
- Brantford · Canada67°/56°today+6.5°vs average
- London · Canada69°/57°today+9.1°vs average
- Washington72°/60°today+2.4°vs average
- Alexandria72°/60°today+2.6°vs average