Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Issued by NWS Pittsburgh, PA
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492 FXUS61 KPBZ 111807 AFDPBZ Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pittsburgh PA 107 PM EST Tue Nov 11 2025 .SYNOPSIS... Lake enhanced snow showers continue across the region, steadiest north and east of Pittsburgh. Snow showers shift northward and slowly come to an end this afternoon and evening. A weak disturbance Wednesday brings a rain/snow mix to the northern and eastern portions of the region. High pressure promotes dry weather to end the week as temperatures moderate. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... KEY MESSAGES: - Snow to slowly shift northward and taper off today - Gusty winds to continue --------------------------------------------------------------- Radar imagery shows several areas of lake enhanced snow showers continuing to stream into far eastern OH and western PA. Visibility reductions have been the largest hazards as most of this snow is not accumulating on roadways (except in the heaviest showers). These showers are expected to steadily shift northeastward and slowly lose organization as the flow backs to the west and the best lake connection shifts northward, out of our region. The most persistent areas of snowfall overnight saw between 8-10 inches fall near the Venango/Forest County line and saw over a foot of snow fall across eastern Tucker County. Additional totals through the remainder of the afternoon are expected to be generally just a dusting south of I-80 and perhaps another 0.5 inches on grassy/elevated surfaces north of I-80 as the axis of snow showers swings to the northeast. Given these trends, all winter weather headlines will be allowed to expire at 1 PM. With a tight pressure gradient winds are expected to remain rather gusty through the afternoon (frequent gusts between 25-35 mph) before the pressure gradient slackens overnight and winds calm some but don`t abate. High temperatures across the region are expected to remain south of 40 degrees and the highest elevations may not even crack freezing today. POPs increase again tonight across the northern half of the forecast area as a warm front tied to weak SFC disturbance crosses the region. This reintroduces snowfall chances across the forecast area, highest north of Pittsburgh. && .SHORT TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/... KEY MESSAGES: - Passing disturbance maintains lake effect snow showers north of I- 80 and in the ridges on Wednesday - A rain/snow mix turns to all rain and then ends across the lowlands ---------------------------------------------------------------- Another shortwave rounds the base of the long wave trough Wednesday. At the SFC a low will track eastward across Ontario and Quebec, draping a cold front down through the OH Valley. The crossing of this front will return a rain/snow mix to the region Wednesday into Wednesday night. The highest POPs remain in the north and across the ridges in westerly flow. This westerly flow likely keeps the best lake effect to our north and isn`t the most efficient wind direction for upslope across our ridges either. 850mb temps are expected to warm between 7- 8 C over the next 24 hours but still remain below freezing. Many of the forecast soundings suggest a melting snow falling across much of the region early, reaching a SFC layer near to several degrees above freezing before turning to more widespread rain as temperatures warm and a rain/snow mix retreats into the higher terrain. A rain/snow mix may turn back over to all snow as temperatures drop overnight but by then the SFC trough will be exiting the region and moisture will be fleeting. All of these combine to yield low snowfall totals. Probabilities for 1 inch of snowfall from the NBM are less than 10% and from the HREF peak in the 40-50% range in the eastern ridges. Rising heights and warming 850mb temperatures translate down to the SFC as warming temperatures; our highs tomorrow are expected to return to the 40s across much of the region and could strike 50 degrees in the southern river valleys. Winds will still be gusty as the SFC pressure gradient begins to tighten again, but wind chill will be less of an issue with moderating temperatures. POPs trend downwards Wednesday night as the weak SFC trough flees eastward and high pressure begins to filter into the area. Low temperatures Wednesday night will come up several degrees compared to previous nights and portions of the region could stay above freezing all night. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... - Dry weather with moderating temperatures Thursday and Friday - Precipitation chances return this weekend, mainly in the form of rain - Pattern uncertainty increases early next week; low rain chances and near to slightly below-normal temps best forecast for now ------------------------------------------------------------------- Isolated rain/snow showers may linger initially north of I-80 Thursday morning, but these should end by afternoon as surface ridging and slowly rising 500mb heights take hold. Mostly dry weather is then foreseen into Saturday with surface high pressure tracking to our south over the lower Ohio Valley into the Central Appalachians. The warming trend continues through this period, with temperatures getting to around climatology by Friday. An approaching warm front may return light rain chances as early as late Friday night, but the daylight hours of Saturday look to be a bit more favorable for that possibility. Better rain chances return for Saturday night into Sunday thanks to Great Lakes low pressure. Most ensemble members have a 500mb ridge axis crossing at some point Saturday or Saturday night, but they continue to diverge greatly thereafter. Some solutions hold on to ridging longer by developing a cutoff upper low to our west and slowing the pattern down, which would keep us a bit warmer. Meanwhile, others feature an Upper Midwest shortwave knocking down the ridge somewhat on Sunday, which would lead to another cooldown. For now, the forecast of least regret appears to be continued precipitation chances from Sunday into early next week given the uncertainty, along with a drop to slightly below normal temperature, but not as cold as early this week. At this time, another round of early-season winter weather does not appear to be in the cards through Tuesday. && .AVIATION /18Z TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Largely MVFR conditions prevail across the region. As expected, the axis of snow showers is shifting northeastward and clouds have begun to erode and lift at western ports. Snow showers can continue for FKL/DUJ but are expected to wind down over the coming hours as the flow backs to the west and snow showers are pushed further to the north. VFR is expected to prevail at all terminals by this evening. Winds will remain elevated for the remainder of the afternoon with gusts as high as 25-30 knots possible for most terminals. Gusts are expected to subside before 00z for most ports as mid-level clouds filter in ahead of our next passing trough. Restriction chances begin to rise again during the early morning hours of Wednesday as snow showers and MVFR CIGs return to our northern ports. Snow showers will transition to rain showers during the day as temperatures rise. The southern expanse of these showers still remains somewhat in question and has been included in PROB30 groups for BVI/PIT/AGC/LBE. South of these ports, showers are not expected to bring restrictions. Outlook... Showers chances and thus restriction chances rapidly decline across the lowlands by 18z tomorrow. Showers can linger across our northern ports into the evening and overnight hours. Showers can also turn back over to snow Wednesday night as temperatures drop. Showers are expected to wind down before 12z Thursday. VFR returns Thursday and Friday under high pressure. && .PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PA...None. OH...None. WV...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...CL/AK NEAR TERM...AK SHORT TERM...AK LONG TERM...CL AVIATION...AK