From the NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), State of the Climate, National Overview, October 2009:
Temperature Highlights – October
- The average October temperature of 50.8°F was 4.0°F below the 20th Century average and ranked as the 3rd coolest based on preliminary data.
- For the nation as a whole, it was the third coolest October on record. The month was marked by an active weather pattern that reinforced unseasonably cold air behind a series of cold fronts. Temperatures were below normal in eight of the nation’s nine climate regions, and of the nine, five were much below normal. Only the Southeast climate region had near normal temperatures for October.
- Statewide temperatures coincided with the regional values as all but six states had below normal temperatures. Oklahoma had its coolest October on record and ten other states had their top five coolest such months.
- Florida was the only state to have an above normal temperature average in October. It was the sixth consecutive month that the Florida’s temperature was above normal, resulting in the third warmest such period (May-October).
- The three-month period (August-October) was the coolest on record for three states: Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Five other states had top five cool periods: Missouri (2nd), Iowa (3rd) , Arkansas (5th) , Illinois (5th) and South Dakota (5th) . Every climate division in Kansas (nine) and Nebraska (eight) recorded a record cool such period.
- For the year-to-date (January – October) period, the contiguous U.S. temperature ranked 43rd warmest. No state had a top or bottom ten temperature value for this period.
Precipitation Highlights – October
- The U.S. recorded its wettest October in the 115-year period of record. The nationwide precipitation of 4.15 inches was nearly double the long-term average of 2.11 inches.
- Regionally, two of the nation’s nine climate regions (the East North Central and South) saw their wettest October. The Central region had its second wettest October, while the West North Central had its fourth wettest. This was the first month since December 2007 that no region had below normal precipitation.
- Three states (Iowa, Arkansas, and Louisiana) saw their record wettest October. Fourteen other states had precipitation readings ranking in their top five category. Only three states (Florida, Utah, and Arizona) saw below normal precipitation.
- Arkansas continued its remarkable run of wetness in 2009. The state has seen four months with top three precipitation ranks this year (May, 1st wettest; July, 3rd wettest; September, 2nd wettest; October, 1st wettest). As a result, the state’s year-to-date average is the wettest in 115 years of record keeping. This contrasted with persistent dryness in Arizona, which saw its second-driest year-to-date period.
- The three-month (August-October) rainfall was record-setting for many adjacent divisions within Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. It is noteworthy that this occurred despite only one tropical cyclone (Claudette, in August) making landfall in the region during this period.
- By the end of October, moderate-to-exceptional drought covered 12 percent of the contiguous United States, the second-smallest drought footprint of the decade, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Major drought episodes in California and South Texas improved significantly. Drought conditions emerged across much of Arizona.
- About 45 percent of the contiguous United States had moderately-to-extremely wet conditions at the end of October, according to the Palmer Index (a well-known index that measures both drought intensity and wet spell intensity). This is the largest such footprint since February 2005.
Other Items of Note
- According to the NOAA Midwest Regional Climate Center in Champaign, Illinois, more than half of the long-term stations in the Midwest had one of their five wettest Octobers on record, with one out of five observing its wettest. Combined with the cold, this delayed crop planting and stunted crop maturity. Corn development was as much as four weeks behind in places, and the soybean harvest was well behind schedule throughout the region.
- Two major snow storms hit the contiguous United States during October. The first struck the Upper Midwest October 9th through 13th, while the second blanketed the western Plains States October 27th through 30th. By month’s end, 13.6 percent of the nation was under snow cover, according to NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center.
- Unusually cold and wet conditions across the middle of the country led to several snowfall records. Cheyenne, Wyoming observed 28 inches of snow during October, making this the city’s snowiest October on record. North Platte, Nebraska recorded 30.3 inches of snowfall, making October 2009 the snowiest month of all months on record for the city. The previous record was 27.8 inches, in March 1912.
- October, like September, saw below-normal fire activity in all respects. A total of 3,207 fires burned about 158,000 acres in October, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. Each of these values is below this decade’s average for October.
- Precipitation Highlights – October
- The U.S. recorded its
wettest October in the 115-year period of record. The nationwide precipitation of 4.15 inches was nearly double the long-term average of 2.11 inches.
Regionally, two of the nation’s nine climate regions (the
East North Central and
South) saw their wettest October. The
Central region had its second wettest October, while the
West North Central had its fourth wettest. This was the first month since December 2007 that no region had below normal precipitation.
- Three states (
Iowa,
Arkansas, and
Louisiana) saw their record wettest October.
Fourteen other states had precipitation readings ranking in their top five category. Only three states (Florida, Utah, and Arizona) saw below normal precipitation.
- Arkansas continued its remarkable run of wetness in 2009. The state has seen four months with top three precipitation ranks this year (May, 1st wettest; July, 3rd wettest; September, 2nd wettest; October, 1st wettest). As a result, the state’s
year-to-date average is the wettest in 115 years of record keeping. This contrasted with persistent dryness in
Arizona, which saw its second-driest year-to-date period.
- The three-month (August-October) rainfall was record-setting for many
adjacent divisions within Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. It is noteworthy that this occurred despite only one tropical cyclone (Claudette, in August) making landfall in the region during this period.
- By the end of October, moderate-to-exceptional drought covered 12 percent of the contiguous United States, the second-smallest drought footprint of the decade, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Major drought episodes in California and South Texas improved significantly. Drought conditions emerged across much of Arizona.
- About 45 percent of the contiguous United States had moderately-to-extremely wet conditions at the end of October, according to the Palmer Index (a well-known index that measures both drought intensity and wet spell intensity). This is the largest such footprint since February 2005.
- Other Items of Note
- According to the NOAA Midwest Regional Climate Center in Champaign, Illinois, more than half of the long-term stations in the Midwest had one of their five wettest Octobers on record, with one out of five observing its wettest. Combined with the cold, this delayed crop planting and stunted crop maturity. Corn development was as much as four weeks behind in places, and the soybean harvest was well behind schedule throughout the region.
- Two major snow storms hit the contiguous United States during October. The first struck the Upper Midwest October 9th through 13th, while the second blanketed the western Plains States October 27th through 30th. By month’s end, 13.6 percent of the nation was under snow cover, according to NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center.
- Unusually cold and wet conditions across the middle of the country led to several snowfall records. Cheyenne, Wyoming observed 28 inches of snow during October, making this the city’s snowiest October on record. North Platte, Nebraska recorded 30.3 inches of snowfall, making October 2009 the snowiest month of all months on record for the city. The previous record was 27.8 inches, in March 1912.
- October, like September, saw below-normal fire activity in all respects. A total of 3,207 fires burned about 158,000 acres in October, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. Each of these values is below this decade’s average for October.
C’mon guys, this is just weather. November is warmer than October. I have been in the US for 5 days and it is still 70 in Ohio!!!!!!! Was lower in October.
REPLY: Cmon Peter, this is a report by that US National Climatic Data Center, complain to them if you don’t like it, Otherwise bugger off – Anthony
I knew it was cold… Even said so and so did my tomatoes!
So not global climate change but local weather change.
REPLY: So not impressed with your opinion. If this were the hottest month on record, evar, the media would be howling about it and connecting it to “climate change”. This is a report from the National Climatic Data Center, they thought it important enough to write, I think it’s important enough to share. – Anthony
Absolutely it’s important enough to share. I have been hearing from virtually everyone I know online that their October was cold (I don’t know anyone in Florida). We set cold temperature records here in Calgary, and the wind this year has been constant. I’ve only had a few flying days for my R/C planes.
With the constant drumbeat of “warming being worse than we expected”, it’s certainly a surprise to many that we had a far below average cold month, right? In fact, we’re told to expect to never see cold again, basically.
Those charts are taking quite a dive. I wonder why?
“The three-month (August-October) rainfall was record-setting for many adjacent divisions within Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. It is noteworthy that this occurred despite only one tropical cyclone (Claudette, in August) making landfall in the region during this period.”
I seem to recall this same weather patter over GA back in 1979, and everyone here knows that hurricane season is what brings our rainfall in the second half of the year. How curious- exactly thirty years?
The increased precipitation must MUST be due to global warming.
We must…..MUST do something now.
To keep the sky from falling, we need to immediately cut all power to the USA.
Perhaps we can save the planet from itself….given that our species has been around sooooo long…..100,000 years (the early part still swinging from trees)…as compared to the brief, fleeting, and ephemeral FOUR POINT SIX BILLION YEAR saga of Earth’s climate.
We must act now. Stop breathing. CO2 is a poison.
Register with Al…..he knows the way.
But he has to get there in his private jet just like the rest of us.
Except we don’t have private jets.
COAL DUST IS………..CO2…….IS NOT!!
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
I’m have to repeat my pet peeve about graphics like this. No color in the chart represents “normal”. The colors should have been chosen with a neutral tone (grey or white) for a band centered on 0, with the warm and cool colors to either side.
Compare this graphic to most of the graphics displayed in the recent post (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/07/october-2009-3rd-coldest-for-us-in-115-years-what-about-the-upcoming-winter/) from Joseph D’Aleo.
Sorry for venting, but sometimes I get the impression that I’m the only person who ever read Tufte’s classic book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and understood any of it. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone responsible for creating this kind of display graphic. (See http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi for Tufte’s official site.)
Now back to actual, meaningful commentary….
Ist climate when you compare with with the longer term October values.
Funny Peter NZ, would have had the same result of a colder than normal October in NZ (Coldet in 64 years),yet we are going into summer
Clarification from another thread:
Coal dust IS pollution. CO2, however, emphatically is NOT.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
savethesharks (23:32:21) :
Coal dust IS pollution. CO2, however, emphatically is NOT.
Damn it Chris, you keep getting that emphasis wrong 😉
DaveE.
Sure – you are having colder starts to winter and we are having a warmer start to summer down in the southern hemi.
It’s called climate change – as it does.
I wonder what’s causing all that rain cloud?
“local weather change”
Not really. Weather across the continental US is representative of about 1/4 of the Earth (a large portion of the Western half of the Northern hemisphere). It shows a pattern of polar air coming down across North America during that month. I wonder how October was in Canadian statistics. I don’t even know where to find such information but it would be interesting to add that to the CONUS data and get a larger picture.
Now if this were coldest October in Chicago or Fargo or Miami, yeah, then I would dismiss it as local variation due to a more localized weather pattern (say a lack of downslope winds someplace that normally gets more of them). The “average” temperature can change quite a bit in some locations just because the wind happens to blow mostly from, say, the East rather than West one month or vice versa in other locations.
A general pattern over a large continental land mass is not “local” weather in the sense I generally use the term. It is even wider than what I would consider “regional”. It appears to be “continental” in scope and that generally tends to point out larger changes in dominant weather features that impact weather in more than a local scope.
Let’s see now . . . what does “normal” really mean? The human body has a genuine “normal” temperature. Using “under the tongue” thermometers, it is 98.6 degrees F. A variation of only a single F degree means that there is something abnormal going on. In other words, the person with that body temperature is ill . . . with something, and it is not good at all, with only a single F degree of variation (or was that an “anomoly”) from the normal temperature of the human body. Now THAT is what I was led to think a “normal” temperature meant. And I would guess that is what the majority of Americans think “normal’ means too, giving that a person’s body temperature is taken each and every time anyone goes to a doctor. Then again, there is that pesky word called “average”. Darned arithmetic!
Was the US “ill” circa 1925? Or circa 1963? About 1925 I wasn’t here yet, but I don’t remember the US being ill circa 1963 . . . surely I would have remembered something such as that. I can’t remember massive crop failure that year, from crops burning in the heat. Nor do I remember tens of thousands of people dying from heat stroke or heat exhaustion that year. Or even one or several years earlier or later. Surely the media would have had at least something to say about that sort of thing. At least the news media then, that is.
And where, oh where was the high temperature of the year 1998? Let’s see again. What nation has the most temperature measuring stations per square mile. and over a large area indeed? Oh, that can’t count for anything. We know that the width of treerings on a single tree somewhere counts for more regarding temperature of planet Earth. And it sure looks as if the US is really out of step regarding temperature compared with . . . the rest of the planet . . . or was it the hemisphere? . . . Hard to keep in mind, isn’t it? Oh well, that is only the national temperature of the lower 48 . . . I think.
I do have to say that I am really surprised that NOAA would actually publish that temperature chart. But wait, perhaps it is just that they mixed up the labels . . . put the word “temperature” on the precipitation chart, and the word “precipitation” on the temperature chart. Now that would explain it, and would certainly further the interests of the warmmongers and better fit their dire warnings, now wouldn’t it?
Looking at all these charts is tiring, and confusing to say the least. One thing I do remember well from the college chemistry and physics courses I took . . . and that is: If you don’t use the correct terms for the values, you will confuse yourself . . . and get the wrong answer. It seems as if there was something about the great importance of estimating “margin of error” or something like that . . . regarding actual design of structures and such. Plus so much and minus minus so much.
Thanks Anthony, for keeping us so well informed, and for attempting to make it so that we can know what is actually happening in the present, at least, regarding temperature. Old codgers such as I would find it interesting to know.
Of course, that is only October. But I do wish that those folks would use the word “average” when they mean average. And realize that “normal” does have a meaning for the average American.
How is the fall harvest going where you are this year? This is the October of “froze my butt and got washed away” for the most part. Not so bad here in Phoenix, though. No AC needed, and haven’t even turned on my heat yet this fall. Low utility bills for me as of now.
Weather is just a snapshot of the climate at a moment in time. As the Earth’s climate/weather system is chaotic, trends do not convey meaning making predictions about the future uncertain.
Until all our climate systems are fully understood, as well as the interactions between the different processes, medium-term weather and long-term climate forecasts will remain in the province of astrology.
This is the reason the ‘big lie’ about CAGW has survived as long as it has, and why politicians could use this as a weapon to subdue the freedom of the Western World. Like the climate, the scientific tide is turning on the AGW hypothesis. As more and more of Joe Public move into the sceptic’s camp, politicians across the globe are waking up to the fact that the game is up.
Considering yesterday’s thread about warming from land use change I wonder how cold the US would have been without man-made warming…
Is there a relationship between Northern and Southern hemispheres here somewhere?
October in Australia was cool. November is, however, turning into a scorcher. All the averages are looking like being records. We have a high pressure system parked over the Tasman sea that doesn’t look like going anywhere soon. Adelaide, for example, is going for its fourth day of 39C+ and week of 35C+.
Is the North heading for a record breaking winter?
As well as the graphics issue pointed out by Ross Berteig, is there some psychology in using ‘hottest’ rather than ‘warmest’ for promoting AGW and ‘coolest’ rather than ‘coldest’ when the thermometer does not agree with the AGW story?
I might add that I was reared on a farm in NW Iowa from the time I was 3 until after the summer I was 13. (I was a WWII child) Then to school and lived in town for high school. October and the first half of November was harvest time . . . and for the most part, the annual pay months. And it was the frost which was on the punkin back then, not snow. Or for that matter, rain either.
Anthony,
You got me wrong. I was just joking, playing with semantics as well as premeditating the usual cliches of weather is not climate.
REPLY: Well then, use /sarc as in “saracasm off” at the end to denote such punnery and we won’t make that mistake. Thanks for the clarification. – Anthony
Just watched a national broadcast current events programme here in Oz. There’s been a five day heatwave in Adelaide. Is it weather? No- it is “in accordance with the climate change forecasts of the IPCC.” A national scientific figure was on the radio this morning claiming that “events which the IPCC forecast to happen in 100 years time, we’re seeing NOW.” Can someone help me tear my hair out?
To put irony in one’s writing may be not my strongest point as a non-native English speaker. And the humour/irony was a bit stale, I must admit. My apologies
REPLY: No worries, lessons learned all around. – Anthony
@ur momisugly stevec
Doesn’t stop some good old fashioned scaremongering going on here though: ice sheets thinning, sea level raises worse than IPCC predicted, blah, blah, blah. It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.
http://www.3news.co.nz/World/Story/tabid/417/articleID/129447/cat/61/Default.aspx
PS, I think some of the first posts were sarcasm?
Could it be due to an increase in lap-dancing having replaced traditional rain-dancing ? Serious note,I collected weather data at a site in Wexford [ Ireland ] for 5 years . I was very kindly given some 20 years of data from a Gov. site just 5 miles away and I was getting 15% +/- more rain each year. I was on the lee side of a hill so I guess its all down to where you place your bucket.
“bugger off” made me laugh, thank you.