A stretch of late-summer heat comes to Pittsburgh along with limited rain chances

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Saturday morning begins with patches of clouds and some valley fog across western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Any cloud cover this morning will gradually move out leading to a mostly sunny and warm afternoon.

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A west-to-southwest wind will continue to transport warmer air into our area through Sunday which should promote substantial warming with highs reaching the mid to upper 80s on both days.

This weekend, dew points should remain relatively low, so although it will be hotter, Saturday and Sunday will feel more like a dry heat. Gradually expect an uptick in dewpoints on Monday that will carry well into the middle to end of next week. These higher dew points combined with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s will certainly feel more uncomfortable than previous days.

The most likely days to reach and exceed 90 degrees at the moment appear to be next Tuesday and Wednesday as the heat ridge in the upper atmosphere centers itself closer to our region combined with low-level flow transporting hotter air into our area.

Regarding rain chances, there are a couple of weak disturbances that show up in the models for Sunday night into Monday and next Tuesday-Wednesday. The first system on Sunday into Monday will likely not have much moisture with it, so at best, an isolated shower or storm is possible late Sunday into early Monday. The next system that arrives on Tuesday night into Wednesday may have slightly greater moisture values present, so that would be our next best chance of an isolated storm. The system Tuesday night into Wednesday may also be associated with a weak "backdoor" cold front, but model guidance is not incredibly bullish on this front clearing our forecast area or bringing a substantial cooldown.

Temperatures will likely remain in the upper 80s to near 90 through Friday before signs of possibly a stronger cold front arrive by the end of the month.

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