Climate averages 1991–2020

Pittsburgh weather
in January.

A cold, wet month: the coolest and the 4th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 2.8°C Daytime mean, January

Average low -5.5°C Night-time mean, January

Rainfall 92 mm 12 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 10 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a cold month in Pittsburgh: daytime highs average 2.8°C and nights cool to about -5.5°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.

Expect about 92 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes January a wet month (the 4th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 38 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Canton (Ohio), United States (123 km away). In January its highs average 1.4°C, 1.4°C cooler than Pittsburgh, with 82 mm of precipitation.

Among the 498 cities listed in the United States, Pittsburgh ranks joint 371st of 498 for the warmest January highs and joint 371st of 498 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 498 cities is 9.5°C; Pittsburgh is 6.6°C cooler than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 1.9°C to 4.8°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 92 mm to 80 mm.

The annual picture

January in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Pittsburgh climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Pittsburgh, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	2.8°C-5.5°C	-5.5°C	92	12.0	9.610 h
February	4.8°C-4.7°C	-4.7°C	80	10.9	10.611 h
March	9.9°C-0.5°C	-0.5°C	108	12.9	11.912 h
April	16.6°C5.5°C	5.5°C	119	13.8	13.313 h
May	21.6°C11.3°C	11.3°C	123	14.3	14.414 h
June	26.0°C16.2°C	16.2°C	126	13.6	15.015 h
July	28.2°C18.6°C	18.6°C	116	14.0	14.815 h
August	27.5°C17.9°C	17.9°C	93	11.9	13.814 h
September	23.9°C14.4°C	14.4°C	101	10.4	12.513 h
October	17.4°C8.4°C	8.4°C	93	10.7	11.211 h
November	10.6°C2.6°C	2.6°C	88	10.0	10.010 h
December	5.1°C-2.1°C	-2.1°C	89	11.6	9.39 h

Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.

Compare places

January in nearby cities

Distance from Pittsburgh

Read the numbers correctly

Climate, not a promise.

These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.

Sources, method and limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Pittsburgh) is explained once on the Pittsburgh year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.