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.
Peter in New Zealand (23:01:19) :
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
Ouch! Peter you were a BAD boy. (/sarc)
The reader should note however that Peter’s comment is left as is, and in a prominent position within the blog. Anyone who has lately been at RC or CP will appreciate the contrast.
It is, however, remarkable that NCDC is reporting this. Shame that the media aside from Drudge is silent though.
Oh, and Anthony, my mum believed that “bugger off” was swearing (my grandparents were from Britain). Be careful that the new government blog regulators don’t censure you for bad language.
Maybe churches should ring out a warming on global cooling. But the Copenhagen publicity campaign rolls on:
Church bells to ring out warning on climate change
meant “warning”. Time for coffee.
“Could someone give us a snapshot of the UK’s autumn? How has it been?”
http://www.climate-uk.com/page3.html
Check this site out.
Thanks for sharing these important findings about October Anthony.
From the report:
“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).”
Glad they were able to fit that tidbit in 😉
Doug in Seattle 06: 54: 44:
“Bugger off” is considered pretty mild swearing in the UK nowadays – much less offensive than something else which ends in “off”. I’m surprised to see an American write it, though (although this is not the first time AW has used it), because I didn’t think it was used in the US. Well, you learn something every day, if you’re not careful!
Midwest Mark (04:47:00) :
Just curious. Could someone give us a snapshot of the UK’s autumn? How has it been?
After a cooler-than-normal October, the Midwest seems to be experiencing a fairly normal November.
So far It looks average so it probably won’t change much.
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt74/MartinGAtkins/Sep-Oct.png
November at the start was nice.Here NE Oregon, but awoke to an icy,snowy day.
not unusual,but a bit early,not one single bird at the still full feeders.Do they know something? 1969 and 71/72 were Nino years and quite cold and nasty here.
I fear warm water and cold air are not a good combination…
pwl (07:42:04) :
Thanks for sharing these important findings about October Anthony.
Stay tuned. Next month we feature November.
RR Kampen (06:19:09) : Excuse me – October was .. flabbergastingly warm/record ‘hot’ over central and Southeastern Europe.
What precisely “flabbergasted” you RR Kampen? Can we have the temperatures that made your jaw drop open and leave you gasping in amazement?
RR Kampen (06:22:21) : ..The cold spell in the Alps middle of the month didn’t compensate for the rest (including e.g. the German absolute October heat record on the 7th).
Can we have a few links to back your Oracle at Delphi like statements? I Googled October weather in Germany and could only come up with this: “All-time October low recorded in Bavaria” http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091020-22693.html
You seem to be unable to grasp the simple fact that warm weather is desirable, cold weather harmful, specially in the higher latitudes of the world. The little ice age wiped out the Vikings in Greenland and reduced the population of Iceland by 35%. It has also been implicated as a factor in the Bubonic Plague which killed off 35-50% of Europe. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS105562+09-Oct-2009+PRN20091009
The second concept you should try and grasp is climate varies naturally and trying to control it by reducing pitiful amounts of CO2 by shutting down power generation and industry is akin to the Chinese astrologers beating their drums during a solar eclipse to make the dragon disgorge the sun.
Akin because it is equally ridiculous, futile and irrelevant but far more harmful and hence stupid.
Notice the warming around the urban corridors.
” Basil (06:35:16) : ”
Thanks for that, I have bookmarked it. One thing I noticed … compare the anomaly in Canada with the anomaly in Eurasia. You can see what looks like a phase difference. When the cold air spills down into Canada, it appears that warmer air is pulled up across central Russia. When the anomaly goes warm in Canada, it appears to go cold in Russia. All if this is sort of what I would expect to see. If cold air spills down out of the polar region, warmer air must be coming from somewhere to replace it.
And one thing people should be aware of about averages: The temperature is rarely “average”. An average is just that, an average over time. Temperature is usually warmer or cooler than “average”. An average is not a mean or a mode. It is quite possible to never have a month that matches the “average” temperature. You will also find that periods of unusually cold weather are often closely followed by periods of unusually warm and vice versa. Unusually wet weather by periods of unusually dry, etc.
In Central MN, the anti-traditional rollercoaster continues. Fighting the trend since June, November is mild and dry.
“”” DaveF (08:06:41) :
Doug in Seattle 06: 54: 44:
“Bugger off” is considered pretty mild swearing in the UK nowadays – much less offensive than something else which ends in “off”. I’m surprised to see an American write it, though (although this is not the first time AW has used it), because I didn’t think it was used in the US. Well, you learn something every day, if you’re not careful! “””
Well Doug, I believe that Anthony was simply several chess moves ahead of you on this one.
“bugger off”; being akin to “scram” or “shoo” for Kiwi, Aussies, and Limeys alike; and Anthony was simply adressing Peter in terms he would well understand; my guess is to make him feel at home here.
I revert to “g’day Mate” when talking to fellow Kiwi folk or Aussies; but don’t usually use that with my American friends. I tend to be bilingual in idiom; having grown up on a pretty good mixed diet of Hollywood, and J. Arthur Rank.
Even after all these years, I have a hard time telling the two apart; and you may notice that I inadvertently spray a good deal of British spelling around in my posts, with a lot of esses, where WE use zees here in America; I do admit to having lost the zeds some time ago.
So no harm Mate; Anthony was just warming up for Peter’s benefit.
JP (05:08:51) : “It would be interesting to hear what large scale patterns caused both Western Europe and North America to have such a cold, wet October. However, it does appear that El Nino is strengthening…”
Here’s a clue:
http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm
Arctic ice extent, after a fairly decent recovery relative to 2007, has edged closer to the 2007 trace (or vice versa!). It appears that 2009 will pass under “the knot” where all recent years converge (Arctic ice is geographically constrained). It would appear that heat is being smeared from the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere up into the Arctic.
Delayed Arctic freeze-up will result in higher-than- normal heat loss there as we enter the darkest northern months. I’d expect either record Arctic ice formation rates this winter or a hideously cold NH.
Seemingly in accord with the record colds experienced by the Southern Hemisphere in June/July. Hmmmm. Global trend towards a cooling off the 20 year warm?
Patrick Davis (05:52:01) :
Well, it’s “warm” on the East coast of Aus, Sydney, certainy not unusual, but humid, 85%+.
Predictions are for 42c next Monday. We’ll see. Seems like a “usual” spring/summer change going on, but a cool flow is, predcited, coming the week after.
Hey Pat have you loooked over the border to South Aus? we are having a record breaking november heatwavew..basically very hot January/ Feb weather here
This should be studied in depth. I think it gives insights, in a small scale way, what the onset of ice advance might look like. Imagine if this happened not only for a month, but month after month, for several decades.
Quote of the week for me.
DaveE.
“bugger off” would still be rude to a kiwi or aussie, even if mildly so. Depends on the context. If used by a mate at a pub it could be like an expression “oh come off it” or “you’re joking”. Not to be confused with “oh bugger” or just bugger, which is a mild expletive here, something like “oh damn”, commonly used, though perhaps not quite Queen’s etiquette.
George E. Smith (09:35:39) :
I’d be careful with J. Arthur Rank! I know what you mean but a J. Arthur is rhyming slang for a word sounding like rank. 😉
DaveE.
4 billion (10:04:51) : ..Hey Pat have you loooked over the border to South Aus? we are having a record breaking november heatwavew..basically very hot January/ Feb weather here
Yep it is blistering hot there. But 4 billion thats just the weather. The climate says the past months temperatures have been normal to cool. Past 12 months normal mostly.
Tell me when the temperature reaches 4 billion.
Well, I live in Ohio, and I don’t remember a day where it hit 70. It has been in the mid/upper 60s, but I don’t remember a 70. Still, given June, July, August, September, and October here in Ohio, November was bound to be warm. I am already stocking up on the salt. Colder, wetter. If that happens again in December, we will get a ton of snow. Only if it is warmer than last winter, though. Last winter we had ice storms. The ice was so bad that walking was nearly impossible across sidewalks that had not been salted. I literally sat on a cardboard box and pushed once, slid for about 5-10 yards and a first down.
Still, got quite a few warm days on tap here, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if November ends up high across the country.
Richard (10:06:52) :
“bugger off” would still be rude to a kiwi or aussie,
When I was young. My mum, who was born in 1926, used to use the phrase (and then apologise because children were present (including me)).
I think nowadays in the UK the kids (that includes anyone under 30 BTW), do not really use it and have hardly ever heard it being used. In times gone by, ‘bugger off’ had a very mild (leave me alone) usage. Now it would have the PC police after you big time and you would be hounded as anti-gay.