- 10/31/12

Remember last summer, when we couldn't buy a drop of rain or relief from the heat?  In September, we saw the hot spell broken as temps returned to near average levels.  Rainfall for the month was below average, but at least we had several rainy days; something we hadn't seen in June, July and August.  It seemed the hot, dry trend might be reversing.

The month of October stood the summer trend on its head!  Temperatures for the month were cooler than the climatological average (30 year average).  The average high last month was 58, well below the climatological average of 63; the average low was 42, only one degree below the long-term average.

Last month broke a five-month stretch of below average rainfall -- and did it in a big way!  We saw 6.17" of rain in October, more than twice what is typical for the month.  We had measurable rainfall on 18 of the 31 days, including a stretch in the middle of the month where it rained enough to measure on 11 of 13 days.  As you might expect, sunshine was unusually limited in October.  We usually see about 55% of the available sunlight during the month; last month, we only saw about 42%.

Interestingly, the warmest days were toward the end of the month, as we hit 77 on October 24th and 25th.  The coldest reading of the month was 31, on October 16, 28, and 29.