Pittsburgh ties its record high temperature Monday

On a typical early March day, riding the zipline at Murrysville Community Park would mean risking frostbite.

Thanks to southern winds, however, there was no chance of that Monday, as Pittsburgh tied its record high temperature for the date, meteorologists said.

As of 4 p.m., the thermometer had hit 74 degrees, tying a 1992 record.

Wind coming from the south and southwest is pushing warm air into the region, said Matt Brudy, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Moon.

“That can really help heat our temperatures up quite a bit,” he said.

The temperatures in the Pittsburgh region resemble May rather than March.

The average high temperature on March 4 in Pittsburgh is 44 degrees. But there were no gloves to be seen Monday afternoon at a crowded Murrysville Community Park playground.

“This is the busiest it’s been in the last couple weeks, that’s for sure,” said Murrysville police Officer Art Aminov, who was joined by several other on-duty officers about 4:30 p.m. at the playground. “That’s the main reason we came out today, is to talk with kids and families. When the weather’s really nice, we’ll bring the drone down and show kids how it works.”

Jeremy Rupp and Tiffany Arndt of Murrysville brought their children Kam, 5, Adriana, 9, and Vera, 8, to the park.

“Everyone is always really friendly, especially with the weather this nice,” Rupp said.

Kim Tuminello of Delmont brought her mother and her husky mix Robo for a late-afternoon walk. Tuminello said they try to stop by the park every day, but Monday’s weather made it a nice treat.

“We decided to come out later today because it was just so beautiful,” she said.

The spray park at Tarentum’s Riverview Memorial Park does not open until Memorial Day, but the sun and warm weather brought adults and children alike to walk the park and play in its playground along the Allegheny River.

“It’s nice, but it’s definitely weird because it’s March,” said Alyssa Kocon of Brackenridge as she and her boyfriend, Zach Sowinski of Tarentum, wore shorts for a stroll.

“It puts a smile on my face,” Sowinski said.

Mary McBurney lives near the park in Tarentum and walks it all the time when the weather is nice.

“It’s a beautiful day,” she said. “My car said 75 so I thought we broke the record.”

Not one to miss the cold, McBurney is already looking forward to Tarentum’s summer concerts in the park.

“I’m not a cold-weather person,” she said. “It can stay like this all winter long.”

A walk was the extent of the exercise that Ryan Barr of Brackenridge was up for after recently having his appendix removed.

“It’s definitely nice to get out,” he said. “I like 60s. I’m a 60s guy. But 70s, I’ll take it.”

Barr remembered that Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow on Feb. 2 and predicted an early spring.

“The groundhog was semi-right, so far,” he said.

How long will it last?

Ashley Dougherty, meteorologist at TribLive news partner WTAE, said the “unseasonably warm air” will stick around into Tuesday.

Daytime highs will be in the low 70s again Tuesday, she said, but she doesn’t expect the city to break the record high temperature of 78, which was set March 5, 2004.

“It’s going to be a pretty similar day,” Brudy said of Tuesday. “But that’ll be the last of the really above-average days.”

He said the temperature will slowly decline to the upper 50s and low 60s by the end of the week.

Though it will cool down, Brudy said, it’s “still quite warm” for this time of year, as the average high temperature later in the week is 45 degrees.

Pittsburghers also can expect rain through most of the remaining week.