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Beyond the Forecast

August 3 in Pittsburgh

Weather forecasts run out after about two weeks. For any date further out than that, the honest answer isn't a single number — it's the range Pittsburgh actually delivers on this date, and how often.

On August 3, Pittsburgh, PA typically reaches 84°F, but has run anywhere from 77°F to 91°F in eight years out of ten. About 65% of August 3s see no measurable precipitation.

Daytime high84°F
77°F8 years in 10 land in here91°F
Overnight low65°F
57°F8 years in 10 land in here71°F

The odds on August 3

65%
Dry day
No measurable precipitation
10%
90°F or hotter
Daytime high

Odds computed from the last 30 years (19962025).

This date is moving

Highs around August 3 have warmed about 0.5°F per decade since 1970 — roughly 2.8°F across the record. The figures above are shifted along that trend to 2025, so they describe today's climate rather than the average of the last 55 years.

When a forecast beats this page

We scored real forecasts against the station at PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY CO AP. A next-day forecast there misses the high by 2.6°F on average; by 7 days out that grows to 5.6°F. The range on this page spans 14°F, so inside about two weeks a real forecast is far sharper — past that, there isn't one, and this is what's left. See how your city ranks.

Where this comes from: 840 daily observations from PITTSBURGH ASOS, covering 19702025. We pool every day within 7 days of August 3 — a single calendar date has only about 55 readings, far too few to place a 10th percentile you'd want to trust.

Why it's not a plain average: A climatology computed straight across 19702025 describes the middle of that period, not today, so as a statement about the present it runs cold. We fit a trend on year and shift each observation to 2025 before taking the range. The probabilities use the last 30 years instead — shifting a temperature along a trend is well defined, shifting “did it rain” is not.

What this is not: Not a forecast. It is what Pittsburgh, PA has actually done on this date, which is the only defensible answer once you're past the two-week horizon where real forecasts stop. Data: NOAA NCEI GHCN-Daily.

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