Kyle Morgan, 32, of Cranberry Township, tears down the hill on his freshly waxed sled at North Boundary Park in Cranberry Township, on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Morgan said he moved to the area from Florida two years ago. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

Saturday marked the coldest Christmas Eve on record in the Pittsburgh area.

Temperatures dropped Saturday to a mere 12 degrees, just one degree below the previous record of 13 degrees set in 1983, according to Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.

“We had some cold air push into the region, but I think what stood out was the amount of time that we had the cold air dominating our area,” Hendricks said.

It wasn’t since 1976 or 1977 that such cold temperatures dominated the region for such a significant span of time over Christmas, he said.

Just enough snow fell in the region to declare the holiday a “White Christmas.”

Only 1.2 inches of snow fell in Pittsburgh. To the north, 1 inch was recorded in Slippery Rock.

“Most everyone had a half inch, an inch or so,” Hendricks said.

The end of December typically sees much warmer temperatures, he said, “normally, this time of year 38 degrees with lows around 25.”

Kyle Morgan, 32, of Cranberry Township, tears down the hill and wipes out on his freshly waxed sled at North Boundary Park in Cranberry Township, on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

Additionally, records were set over the holiday weekend in Dubois, Pa., and Wheeling and Morgantown, W.Va.

On Friday, Dec. 23, Dubois saw temperatures drop to 3 degrees. This compares to 1989 when temperatures dropped to -6 degrees.

On Saturday, Dec. 24, Wheeling, W.Va., saw the mercury on the thermometer drop to 13 degrees. This compares to a record low of 17 degrees in 1906.

Also on Christmas Eve, Morgantown, W.Va., saw a record low of 13 degrees. The previous record sat at 15 degrees in 2015.

The week ahead is expected to look much different from this past weekend.

On Monday night, temperatures were expected to drop to about 16 degrees in Butler.

“That’s with scattered light snow, but nothing that will accumulate,” Hendricks said.

Tuesday’s temperatures should be in the upper 20s and are expected to drop only to the mid-20s Tuesday night.

“Wednesday, we finally break the freezing mark,” Hendricks said.

He predicted temperatures in the lower 40s Wednesday and the upper 40s Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 40s and into the 50s in the coming holiday weekend.