Weather

Excessive rain in the spring followed by a hot, dry summer might be the weather pattern of the future. Experts point to atmospheric greenhouse gases that are higher than they’ve been in more than a million years for driving temperature changes. The abundance of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases...

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Gabrielle strengthened into a hurricane Sunday afternoon southeast of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Gabrielle’s maximum sustained wind increased to 75 mph, up 10 mph from hours earlier to become a Category 1 hurricane. The storm was centered...

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Mario formed Friday off the Pacific coast of Mexico and was expected to bring wind, rain and possible flash flooding, forecasters said. Mario was described as “mini” in the National Hurricane Center’s morning advisory, but the storm packed maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was...

The month of September usually brings falling leaves, pumpkin flavors and cooler breezes — but the weather this weekend and into next week is out of the ordinary. Sweater weather will have to wait. The National Weather Service report on Friday revealed that Pittsburgh and surrounding county residents should expect...

Waterspouts appeared over the Great Lakes over the weekend, including Lake Erie, according to reports. The International Centre for Waterspout Research, a nonprofit that monitors the phenomenon, reported 23 waterspouts over Western Lake Erie and four over Eastern Lake Ontario on Sunday. A waterspout is a spinning column of air...

Stargazers might have come across recent online posts about the upcoming total lunar eclipse this coming weekend that will result in a blood-red moon shining in the sky. Depending on the time zone, the total lunar eclipse will occur between Sunday and Monday, USA Today reported. Will Western Pennsylvania be...

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Juliette formed Monday in the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula as Tropical Storm Fernand churned in the Atlantic Ocean. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for either storm, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Juliette posed no immediate...

Ready for some heat relief? A “taste of fall” could be on the way, according to the National Weather Service in Moon. A map issued by the agency Tuesday shows Western Pennsylvania is likely to see temperatures cooler than usual, at least into Monday and possibly through next Friday. The...

RODANTHE, N.C. — Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina’s Outer Banks with strong winds and waves that flooded part of the main highway and surged under beachfront homes as the monster storm slowly began to move away from the East Coast on Thursday. Forecasters predicted the storm would peak Thursday and...

RODANTHE, N.C. — Hurricane Erin began strengthening again Wednesday while creeping toward the mid-Atlantic coast and churning up menacing waves that have closed beaches from the Carolinas to New York City. Forecasters expect the storm to peak going into Thursday and say it could re-intensify into a major hurricane. While...

ROME — Italy’s Ventina glacier, one of the biggest in northern Lombardy, has melted so much due to climate change that geologists can no longer measure it the way they have for the past 130 years. After this year’s hot summer, geologists discovered that the simple stakes used as benchmarks...

MADRID — Spain tackled several major wildfires on Tuesday in one of the country’s most destructive fire seasons in recent decades, despite temperatures dropping across the Iberian Peninsula. Thousands of firefighters aided by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft continued to fight fires tearing through parched woodland that were especially severe in...

With the threat of Hurricane Erin growing, a state of emergency was issued Sunday in portions of the Outer Banks, prompting evacuations. The Outer Banks is a popular summer vacation hub in North Carolina for many families in Western Pennsylvania. The state of emergency includes all of Dare County, North...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Erin exploded in strength to a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm in the Caribbean on Saturday, rapidly powering up from a tropical storm in a single day, the National Hurricane Center said. While the compact hurricane’s center wasn’t expected to hit land, it threatened...

MADRID — Firefighters in Spain, Portugal and Greece continued to battle wildfires Friday on a public holiday in all three countries as persistent hot, dry conditions challenged efforts to contain the blazes. Spain was fighting 14 major fires. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend. “Today will once again...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Erin was expected to strengthen into a hurricane on Friday as it approached the northeast Caribbean, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding and landslides. The storm is expected to remain over open waters, although tropical storm watches were issued for Anguilla and...

After a spring and early summer that saw several damaging storms and floods, the precipitation well has run dry in August. The last time the Pittsburgh region saw no rain in the first 10 days of August, Grover Cleveland was serving his first term as president in 1887, according to...