Pittsburgh Will Be As Cold As Mount Everest, Siberia, Even The South Pole This Week
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Temperatures this week will fall to levels the Pittsburgh area hasn't seen in years.
In fact, it will be so cold in the Burgh on Wednesday and Thursday, we'll be as cold as Siberia and the South Pole, possibly even colder when you factor in wind chills.
Meteorologist Ray Petelin says the coldest temperatures of the season will combine with dangerously low wind chills to put a frigid grip on the region Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday's high in Pittsburgh is forecasted to be a high of 8 degrees, and a low of -3 degrees.
- RELATED STORY: Warmer In Parts Of The Arctic: Polar Vortex Ushering In Dangerous Chill, How To Prep For The Cold
To put that in perspective, the South Pole is also expected to around -3 degrees.
Siberia will actually be warmer than Pittsburgh, they're forecast to be at 9-degrees Wednesday.
While there is no weather station on the summit of Mount Everest, you would certainly expect even the base camp would be colder than Pittsburgh, given it's at an elevation of more than 17,000 feet above sea level. No such luck. They're expecting a high of 30 on Wednesday.
Wednesday's temperatures in Pittsburgh will be colder than some other notoriously frosty locations across the globe, from the capitals of all four Scandinavian nations, to parts of Siberia, to the Yukon:
• Ottawa, Canada: 9 degrees
• Murmansk, Russia: 10 degrees
• Fairbanks, Alaska: 13 degrees
• Irktusk, Russia: 16 degrees
• Nome, Alaska: 20 degrees
• Oslo, Norway: 23 degrees
• Stockholm, Sweden: 24 degrees
• Reykjavik, Iceland: 25 degrees
• Mount Everest Base Camp, Khumjung, Nepal: 30 degrees
• Edmonton, Canada: 33 degrees
• Helsinki, Finland: 33 degrees
• Copenhagen, Denmark, 35 degrees
• Vladivostok: Russia: 37 degrees
WEATHER LINKS:
Current Conditions | School Delays & Closings | Local Radar | Weather App | Photos
Thursday isn't looking any warmer in the Steel City. Temperatures are expected to be around 9 degrees for a high, with a low of -7.
Wind chills are expected to range from the negative teens, to negative twenties.
"We did hit -10 in Feb. 2015," Petelin says. "And hit -22 back in the mid-1990s."
"If you do not have to go outside, please try to stay inside," Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones said Monday.
That's the warning from city of Pittsburgh public safety officials.
"People don't realize that we have more deaths to weather-related incidents than we have active shooter events across the country," Jones said.
With two back-to-back days of single-digit temperatures later this week and the wind chill below zero, officials want to remind Pittsburghers to be ready.
"We are prepping for the cold weather by having warming centers open during the day and if need be, if there's major power outages," Jones said.
Warming centers will be open until 9 p.m., and police and EMS will be out checking on the homeless.
"Animals, animal care and control, they will be staffed just in case anyone decides to leave their dogs out during nighttime hours," Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said.
