Pittsburgh residents woke to a blanket of dense fog this morning, which the National Weather Service (NWS) expects to last through the early hours, with visibility gradually improving as the day progresses. In their morning report, NWS put out a Dense Fog Advisory in effect until 11 AM EST for numerous counties across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, cautioning the possibility of icy conditions due to pockets of freezing fog that have resulted in a glaze on elevated surfaces.
The fog, a consequence of snow cover, high surface dew points, and partial sky clearing has led to treacherous commuting conditions, residents are urged to exercise caution on slick roads and pathways as the visibility improvement will be slow, stratus likely persisting much of the day despite a projected warming trend through the week with rising temperatures potentially turning colder the following weekend, rain is set to return midweek as stated in the National Weather Service discussion. Because the active weather pattern doesn't take rest, and neither does the fog that seems, to have made itself quite comfortable in the Keystone State.
For aviators, the fog presents a more acute challenge with area-wide visibility low enough to meet airport minimums in some cases, with the forecast indicating potential delays and disruptions, VFR conditions may not return to areas until later in the day, particularly north of Pittsburgh where fog and stratus development remains likely through midweek according to the NWS aviation outlook. For a city that prides itself on clear paths – whether they be on its two-lane streets or in the skies above – this stretch of heavy fog is proving to be an unwelcome guest in Pittsburgh's airspace.
While the dense fog advisory drew to a close this morning, the region isn't entirely in the clear, with light winds and persistent above-normal temperatures expected to favor nighttime fog and stratus development in the days to come, but at least, we have some VFR conditions returning late Monday south of Pittsburgh while the northern region may continue to experience restrictions due to the fog's stubbornness to lift; the impending low-pressure system is forecasted to bring additional cloud cover and rain chances across the area by Wednesday, though. These atmospheric affairs, a dance of moisture and temperature, playing out in Pittsburgh's February skies underscore the transient beauty of the city's winter tableau.
