June’s wet weather still not a record
Waynesburg’s annual Rain Day celebration is still a month away, but people living in Western Pennsylvania got a preview of that soggy weather in June with no relief in the forecast.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh recorded 7.17 inches of rain in June even before storms once again roared through the region Tuesday night to cap the dreary month.
That total, although not close to the record of 10.29 inches of rainfall set in 1989, is nearly double the region’s June average of 4.3 inches, Meteorologist Lee Hendricks said.
More storms late Tuesday were expected to dump at least another half-inch on the region, Hendricks said earlier in the day.
Locally, Waynesburg experienced 6.38 inches of rain in June compared to the average of 3.74 this area typically receives. Washington had similar rain totals last month, which was also well above its June average of 3.91 inches.
However, the weather service’s statistics show that Washington and Greene counties fared better than counties north and east of Pittsburgh.
“It’s just the pattern we’re in right now,” Hendricks said.
He said high pressure that has stalled over the West Coast is causing record heat and drought to scorch that area. The pattern is also causing precipitation to slide over the ridge and dump more rain onto the mid-Atlantic region.
Hendricks said the weather pattern isn’t expected to change any time soon, meaning more rain is possible for the Fourth of July holiday.
“I don’t see anything that’s going to change this pattern, not any time soon,” Hendricks said. “At least to this point, the first half of July will be really wet.”