PITTSBURGH — When hundreds of thousands of fans flock to Pittsburgh for the NFL Draft, they could learn quickly just how fast the weather can change in the Steel City.
Here’s what history tells us about our local weather’s habits.
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This year, it’s been a wild start to spring, and one example of how volatile our weather can be this time of year.
This is a look at the average high temperature between the dates of April 23 and 25 — this year’s draft dates — over the last five years:
- 2025 - 80 degrees
- 2024 - 62 degrees
- 2023 - 49 degrees
- 2022 - 82.7 degrees
- 2021 - 60 degrees
You can see we’ve been anywhere from 49 degrees to over 82 degrees on average in 2022.
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So, it’s not just the range in temperature we need to be prepared for, but also the change in weather conditions this time of year.
“This has been a bit of an above-active March so far in terms of severe weather. Flooding, not so much, which (is a) good thing — crossing our fingers it stays that way,“ Matt Brody said.
Brody is a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, the folks who issue warnings you get on your Severe Weather Team 11 app.
They’ve noticed an uptick in severe weather this season, but also remind folks that the peak typically doesn’t happen until late spring.
“Our peak severe weather season doesn’t come until May, June, July,” Brody said, “But in those transition months, with how volatile the atmosphere can be, those can be times where we can get severe weather outbreaks, and we’ve seen everything from damaging wind to large hail to meteorites in the last couple of weeks. So, we’ve really had it all.”
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Regardless of when, it’s a good reminder for those headed to the draft to stay weather aware.
Who can forget what happened last April? On April 29, a rare derecho plowed through the area, bringing widespread wind gusts over 70 miles per hour and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
Just two years ago, we had our wettest April on record, which led to a crest of 28.37 feet along the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, the highest since Hurricane Ivan in September of 2004.
And don’t forget, it can snow too. While rare, there has been measurable snow recorded in late April.
“Statistically, going back to 2005, where we had 2 inches of snow that fell between the 23rd, 24th and 25th, (it) goes to show that we can have any swing from severe weather to start the month to snow to end the month, and that’s kind of how April goes around here,” Brody said.
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While we can’t say specifically yet how the weather will be during the NFL Draft, we can look at global weather patterns to give you an idea of how things are trending for the end of April.
Right now, the expectation is that much of the southern and southeastern U.S. will be warmer than average, with our area kind of right on the cusp.
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So, at this point, I’d say it’s fair to assume we’ll be close to average as we approach the NFL Draft, and when we look at rainfall, there’s not a big signal there right now, which is good because we don’t want too much rain leading up to the draft.
Of course, our weather changes a lot day to day, so over the next couple of weeks, make sure you stay tuned to our updates, and make sure you have the Severe Weather Team 11 app for the latest forecasts.
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