Meteorologist: High winds a more frequent headache for Southwestern Pa.

Mar. 31—Ill winds have been blowing with increased frequency through Southwestern Pennsylvania this year, felling trees, causing power outages and leaving behind debris and damaged buildings.

With a high wind warning in effect for the region from

8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, on the tail of damaging winds the previous weekend, it may seem as if such weather patterns are becoming more of a problem.

That's not just a matter of perception.

There has been an uptick in the average number of wind advisories issued annually for the tri-state area by the National Weather Service's Pittsburgh office.

"It does seem like we've had some more wind advisories in the region over the last year or so than in the past," said Jared Rackley, a meteorologist in the weather service office. "We have seen a slight increase over the last 10 years or so."

So far this year, Rackley said, the region that includes adjacent areas of West Virginia and Ohio has been subject to eight wind advisories, issued when gusts of between 46 mph and 57 mph are expected.

Saturday's high wind warning, for gusts of 58 mph or more, is the second of that type this year. The first was March 3.

Those numbers put Southwestern Pennsylvania at just about the annual average of 8.6 wind advisories per year, up from the 7.7 average recorded for 2005 to 2015.

"There's a lot of variability from year to year," Rackley acknowledged. "Last year, there were 13 advisories."

At the height of the strong winds March 3-4, West Penn Power had about 40,700 customers across the region who lost their electric service. More than 450,000 served by the utility's parent company, First Energy, lost power last Saturday.

The utility's spokesman, Todd Meyers, noted two meteorologists employed by First Energy were tasked with creating twice daily forecasts to prepare for Saturday's storm. Like their counterparts at the National Weather Service, they also crunched numbers from past years and found, "The last time we had five days of wind exceeding 45 mph in the Pittsburgh region for the same three-month time frame was 2019. So, the windy weather for the first three months of 2023 is above normal, but not dramatically so."

First Energy said it was "taking extensive steps to prepare, including pre-staging crews and having additional crews on hand to assist with potential outages."

Duquesne Light reported more than 50,000 of its customers were affected by power outages during last weekend's storm. It said it was also preparing for Saturday's expected gusts by "increasing staffing so crews can safely respond to outages as quickly as possible. Because of potentially hazardous conditions, some response times may be delayed during the event."

The weather service staff has been considering a study into the root cause of the windy regional pattern. "It tends to be these large low pressure systems that track across our area," Rackley said.

Whatever the cause, the effect of the windstorms is clear: extra headaches for residents, emergency responders and utility companies, along with more work for area tree services.

Westmoreland County Public Safety Director Bud Mertz on Friday was bracing for the latest round of wind gusts.

"I haven't seen anything like this in a long time," he said of the repeated pounding the county has taken from the windstorms. "It's really been taxing. It's every weekend or every other weekend."

He said the winds can generate up to 700 additional calls per day to the county 911 center, on top of the typical 850 the emergency dispatchers field in an average 24 hours.

"We had a conference call with the National Weather Service to verify their forecast and what we feel the impact will be," Mertz said. "This one is different than the last one. Last week, we had dry ground and it held the trees in place."

Following Friday's rain, he said, "We're going into this one with moist ground, so we can expect maybe even more of an impact with downed trees."

In Unity, municipal road crews scrambled to support local firefighters when high winds several weeks ago toppled 20 or more trees onto township roads.

Given the relatively mild temperatures this past winter, "We've got more overtime hours this year with wind damage than with snow removal," said Unity Supervisor Mike O'Barto. "I feel bad for the residents. A lot of the residents were without power not only for a day, but for four or five days."

Ahead of Saturday's expected gusts of up to 60 mph, he said, "We're making sure our chain saws and (heavy equipment) are ready to be used in case we need them."

Beaver Jack Tree Service, which dispatches crews from Natrona Heights, reported calls for assistance so far this year are up by more than 25% compared to the same period in 2022.

In the wake of last weekend's windstorm, "We have had larger scale jobs than usual," said Emily Vush, who handles client communications and marketing for Beaver Jack. That includes removal of trees from at least two homes and possibly a third, she said.

"We've had quite a few calls come in from people who are trying to do something preemptive," she said. "A tree has started leaning a little bit, and they want to try to remove it before it becomes a hazardous situation."

Todd Sherbondy, an arborist who handles calls for Davey Tree Expert Co. in Monroeville and Westmoreland County, believes area windstorms have become stronger and more unpredictable, despite the best efforts of the weather service.

"Now, it seems like there's not a good level of predictability," he said of the winds. "They happen fast."

While demand for his services has increased this season, so have associated costs — with inflation and supply chain issues among contributing factors.

"Fuel costs, equipment costs, rentals of cranes and bringing in heavier equipment, it's gone up exorbitantly," he said. "It's gone up by 60% for some business applications."

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .