Remnants of Hurricanes and Tropical Storms that have brought Rainfall to the Region.

This is a summary of recorded hurricanes or tropical storms which have brought rainfall to Western Pennsylvania since 1876. The remnants of 47 recorded storms have hit the area. 10 of these storms produced record 24 hour rainfall for Pittsburgh. The other 37 did not produce 24 hour records, however some did provide plenty of rain for the area. Prior to 1950, hurricanes and tropical storms were not given names only numbers.

Remnants which produced 24 hour record rainfall for Pittsburgh

(Rank - where the precipitation from the storm ranks in the list of the ”greatest daily precipitation on record” for Pittsburgh / Cat - the category the storms had at landfall on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.)

Remnants which provided rainfall for Western Pennsylvania but did not break daily precipitation records.

(Precip - total for the storm / Cat - the category the storms had at landfall on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.) Precipitation records were not available for some of the storms from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Some interesting facts found in these lists.

-Only 4 hurricanes which reached category 5, have affected Western Pennsylvania. (1928-Hurricane #5, 1979 - David, 1989 - Hugo, 2005 - Katrina)

-13 category 4 hurricanes have affected the region (the most on the list)

-Hurricane Hugo was partially responsible for the earliest snowfall ever recorded. 1989 Sep 23 trace of snow.

-1893 saw the remnants of 3 storms hit the area, 2 within a week.

-1979 saw the remnants of 4 storms hit the area, 2 in less than a weeks time.

-2004 saw the remnants of 2 storms, Francis and Ivan, hit the area in 9 days causing widespread flooding

-Western Pennsylvania, on average, experiences rainfall from the remnants of a hurricane or tropical storm twice every 5 years.