Expect a Labor Day that’s ‘about as good as it gets’
Summer’s last hurrah favorable for activities
Holiday weekend travelers are likely to encounter some rain in the Pittsburgh region, but by Monday, everything should clear out for a warm and sunny Labor Day.
Storms are expected to move into Western Pennsylvania by Friday, when the forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of rain at night and a 50 percent chance of rain on Saturday with temperatures in the low 70s, said Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon.
Skies should start to clear on Sunday with a high in the upper 70s. That will set up Monday for sunny skies with temperatures in the upper 70s.
“This is about as good as it gets recently,” said Mr. Hendricks, noting that August didn’t have anything near its fabled dog days of temperatures in the 90s with stifling humidity.
Those heading to the Delaware or New Jersey shore can expect about the same forecast Friday through Sunday with Monday featuring sunny skies and temperatures reaching the low 80s.
Wallet-Hub, an online financial adviser, is projecting about 25 percent of Americans will travel this weekend, 86 percent of them by car.
About 3.5 million motorists are expected to use the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Thursday and
Tuesday. They won’t have construction delays to worry about because most work will be suspended from 5 a.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Tuesday and all lanes will be open.
The peak travel times on the turnpike are expected to be Friday, with 750,000 vehicles, and Thursday, with 670,000.
With all that traffic, motorists are encouraged to be extra cautious. More than 400 were killed and 48,000 seriously injured across the country over the Labor Day weekend in 2016.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also will suspend work at most sites throughout the weekend, which means the Liberty Bridge and Tunnel will be open with normal construction restrictions.
So what will Americans be doing on the last long weekend of the summer?
According to WalletHub, 40.6 percent of us, about 128.5 million, will attend a cookout. That’s apparently something we got good at over the summer with an estimated 818 hotdogs being eaten every second between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
To get rid of those extra pounds the hotdogs may have caused, there are at least 85 running races this weekend across the country.