Jan 14, 2005 By Angie Santello 3 min read

The local scene Thursday was one of T-shirts and shorts for some as warm air sent temperatures soaring past the 70-degree mark, breaking local temperature records for the day and sending many outside to take advantage of the unseasonably spring-like weather. Some cruised with the car window down, washed the family car, took a quick walk or hopped on a motorbike for one last ride, all wanting to do tasks they haven’t done since early fall.

In fact, mountain weather observer Jack Hughes said he was sitting on his back porch enjoying a cup of coffee and some popcorn on the spring-like evening. He even took in a game of golf earlier that day.

“I think everybody enjoyed the day,” he commented.

Hughes said it hit the 64-degree mark in the mountains, probably a Jan. 13 record for the area.

The clock on a Connellsville bank tower flashed 72 degrees, while south of Fayette County, the same temperature broke records in Morgantown, W.Va. In the West Virginia city, the last time it was close to being that warm on Jan. 13 was in 1972 at 71 degrees.

Fayette County’s northerly neighbor, Pittsburgh, was only one degree away from breaking a 71-degree record set in 1890. It was 70 degrees in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Before you get too excited, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh Terry Parrish said though temps were record-breaking, they were only a tease before the real winter weather settles in as early as today.

Today, a cold front moving in from Canada will cause temperatures to dip into the mid-30s with a slight chance of snow showers in the morning and partly cloudy skies in the afternoon.

The warm front, the same system causing nice weather in the southwest, is ahead of the northerly flow from Canada, which is bringing the cold air, Parrish said.

Hughes said the warm air coming from the Gulf Coast and the cold air crossing the Great Lakes region in the north will mix to produce moderate temperatures in the 20s or 30s.

The cold air from the north usually causes heavy snow showers or snow squalls in the area around this time of year, Hughes said, but noted that this trend of warm air in the middle of January is not out of the ordinary.

In 1935, it was 70 degrees in Uniontown, he said.

“That’s all going to change, ” Hughes said. “It’ll go back to more moderate weather.”

After a couple hours of rain on Thursday night, the area will encounter a cooler and, to the relief of many, drier trend, Hughes said.

Over the next 10 days, normal weather in the mid- to late-30s will settle in, but no extreme warm or cold temperatures are expected, Hughes said.

Near normal weather is also the roundup for the winter season months of December, January and February.

“When you add it all up, it will be about normal,” Parrish said.

Though the area hasn’t seen snow since Christmas, winter has not reached its end, Hughes warned.

“Winter is by no means over,” he said. “Just in the short term, we aren’t looking at below-zero temperatures or any major snowstorms.”

But, as brief as the warm trend was, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that it’ll greet area residents once again, Parrish noted.