Dry and pleasant weather will be sticking around for the rest of the week in the Pittsburgh area

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's expected to be a pleasant and stretch of weather through the rest of the week.

Any Alert Days Ahead? None.

Aware: Francine has formed in the western Gulf of Mexico. Not expected to have any impact on us right now.

After we got off to a record start with rain here locally, the switch has been flipped and we have been parched for the past four months. We started the year as the second wettest ever on record with 23.83" of precipitation being recorded from Jan 1 - May 31st.  Since June 1st though we haven't seen a lot of rain at all here.  Now it could be worse as records show us just barely in the lower third when it comes to total rain from June 1st through today. We are still +6.28" of rain for the year through today.  That's impressive.

Today is the cut-off day for NOAA's US Drought Monitor with their weekly maps being released on Thursday morning at 8:30.

It will continue to show increased drought conditions for our area.  I expect to see little to no rain over the next 11 days.  While you may not notice an impact, local farms certainly are and things like the yearly apple & pumpkin harvest could be impacted.

When it comes to your forecast, it won't take me long to get you up to speed.  Today will likely be the 'coolest' of the next week with highs in the low 80s and morning lows in the mid-50s.  I have us hitting 83 on Wednesday.

The rest of the week will see highs in the mid-80s and morning lows near 60.  Humidity levels won't be high so it should remain comfy.

Nationally, a tropical storm has formed in the western Gulf of Mexico.  It is expected to make landfall on Wednesday evening, potentially as a category 2 storm.   We could see an impact from this system when it comes to gas prices but it is not expected to bring us any rain.

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