January 2023 was 9.8°F warmer than normal in the counties around Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site in Pennsylvania. February was 9.2°F above normal, and December 8.1°F. By year's end, 2023 was the fourth-warmest year in records going back to 1895 — while total precipitation was close to average.
A boardwalk trail through the woods. Credit: Victoria Stauffenberg, National Park Service.
Why the park tracks weather
The National Park Service's Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network monitors ecosystem "vital signs" in parks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and weather and climate is one of them. These figures are county averages for Blair and Cambria Counties, which surround the park, from NOAA's Climate at a Glance program.
Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere, from minutes to months — rain, snow or a warm sunny day. Climate is what to expect from patterns of 30 years or more. Climate is what you might expect, like a hot summer; weather is what you get, like a warm rainy day.
Temperature
Nine months were warmer than normal, and winter and autumn were especially warm. The year averaged 50.5°F, 2.6°F above the long-term average.
Seasonal and annual temperature rankings for 2023; an arrow at the top would mark the warmest on record since 1895, at the bottom the coldest. Winter is January–March, spring April–June, summer July–September, autumn October–December. Credit: National Park Service.
| Month | Average (°F) | Departure from 1895–2022 average (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 35.1 | +9.8 |
| February | 35.8 | +9.2 |
| March | 36.7 | +1.0 |
| April | 50.6 | +3.9 |
| May | 55.7 | −1.8 |
| June | 63.0 | −2.5 |
| July | 71.0 | +1.2 |
| August | 68.1 | +0.2 |
| September | 62.0 | +0.7 |
| October | 52.8 | +2.4 |
| November | 38.9 | −0.3 |
| December | 37.4 | +8.1 |
| 2023 | 50.5 | +2.6 |
Precipitation
The year's total, 41.43 inches, was about half an inch below the long-term average, making 2023 the 62nd driest on record. The seasons swung widely: spring was quite dry — May was 2.13 inches short — and summer was wet.
Seasonal and annual precipitation rankings for 2023; an arrow at the top would mark the wettest on record since 1895, at the bottom the driest. Credit: National Park Service.
| Month | Total (in.) | Departure from average (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 4.15 | +1.08 |
| February | 2.25 | −0.41 |
| March | 3.00 | −0.62 |
| April | 2.92 | −0.69 |
| May | 1.98 | −2.13 |
| June | 4.27 | −0.04 |
| July | 5.89 | +1.71 |
| August | 5.22 | +1.52 |
| September | 3.12 | −0.42 |
| October | 3.52 | +0.41 |
| November | 2.25 | −0.77 |
| December | 2.86 | −0.18 |
| 2023 | 41.43 | −0.53 |
The long view
Since 1895, the average annual temperature around the park has risen about 0.1°F per decade, and annual precipitation about 0.46 inches per decade. National Park Service scientists project that by 2100 the park's average temperature will rise by 3.2°F to 9.4°F, from the best case to the worst, and annual precipitation by 6 to 12 percent (Gonzalez and others, 2018).
Annual average temperature and total precipitation, 1895–2023; dashed lines show the linear trend. Credit: National Park Service.
Sources
Based on "2023 Weather in Review: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site," National Park Service Eastern Rivers and Mountains Network, a work of the United States government in the public domain, with data from NOAA's Climate at a Glance program.
In these publicationsAllegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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