A lightning-quick line of thunderstorms that streaked through the West Hills early Tuesday evening knocked out power to thousands of residents, toppling trees and power lines and blowing one of the domes off a century-old McKees Rocks church.
The powerful system, which arrived in the Pittsburgh area around 5 p.m., moved through so quickly that it left relatively little rain in its wake.
But it packed wind gusts of 80 to 90 mph in some places, according to Andrew Kienzle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Pittsburgh office in Moon Township.
Kienzle said the highest measured gust in the area was clocked at 79 mph at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe.
The highest recorded gust at Pittsburgh International Airport came in at 71 mph – the third highest ever recorded at the airport. The highest recorded gust of 83 mph occurred on July 10, 1992, and the second-highest recorded gust of 75 mph occurred on April 8, 2020.
Kienzle said the strong line of thunderstorms, preceded by an extremely strong surge of wind, did most of its damage in a very short time frame because of the speed at which it was moving.
“For any one location, the worst of it was maybe in the five- to 10-minute range,” he said.
Kienzle said there was some residual lightning and thunder and some lower-end winds after the main storm passed, but nothing major.
In terms of measurable precipitation that accompanied the winds, Kienzle said only three-tenths of an inch of rain was recorded.
“It was moving so quickly there was no time to rack up any heavy rainfall totals,” he said.
Kienzle said his office received damage reports from all over the greater Pittsburgh area.
“We had reports of windows blown out in buildings downtown,” he said. “That’s incredibly significant damage.”
Some neighborhoods in Robinson Township sustained major damage; a local TV news report showed a massive tree that came down on the house of one longtime resident who said he’d never seen anything like it. Numerous people posted photos on social media of downed trees and other damage.
Kienzle said he was in the Robinson Township area and saw plenty of wreckage. He also saw reports of similar damage in other areas.
“We’ve seen trees down, uprooted, snapped,” he said. “Poles down. Lots of roof damage. In some rural areas, barns were damaged.
“It was a pretty power-packed system that blew through here.”
As of 10:50 p.m., the Allegheny County Medical Examiner had confirmed two storm-related deaths.
The system left thousands of area residents without power. According to Duquesne Light’s website, 243,832 customers were without power as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, with 224,700 of them in Allegheny County.
In the West Hills, 8,490 customers in the 15108 ZIP code – roughly 41% of all customers in that area — were without power as of 9:30 p.m. In the 15136 area, 4,600 customers – or about 38% – were in the dark. In 15106, 6,681 customers – about 61% — had no power. In 15205, 4,769 customers, or about 34%, were without power.
In a social media post made a little before 9 p.m., Duquesne Light said it was “working as quickly and safely as possible” to assess the storm damage and that based on early reporting, “the severity of the weather and extensive nature of damage will likely delay assessments and estimated restoration times.”
The storm also dealt a blow to a local church that is working to restore its building. According to a Facebook post, high winds knocked one of the domes off Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church at 320 Munson Ave. in McKees Rocks. According to the social media post, which was made around 8 p.m., a church official and parish members were meeting to inspect the damage.
A second post noted that the storms “have broadened the scope of our Dome Restoration Project.”
According to the church’s website, a fundraising challenge had been underway to renovate “the temple that was lovingly built over one hundred years ago.”
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