We Weren’t Alone With Our Cold & Wet October

NOAA, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, recently released the statewide and national ranks based on temperature and precipitation data from this past October. In case you forgot, it was very wet and cool around here last month. 5.67″ of rain fell in La Crosse during October, making it the 4th wettest October on record. It was also the 4th coldest October on record in La Crosse with an average temperature of 44.5 degrees.

Well, if it makes you feel any better… we were not alone in our wet and cool misery last month. NOAA found that October 2009 was the 3rd coolest on record for the contiguous United States and the wettest October ever on record! This is based on data going back to 1895. You can check it out for yourself through the following link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091110_octoberstats.html

Some highlights to note from across the country in October 2009:

• Oklahoma recorded its coldest October ever on record
• Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming all had Octobers ranked in the top 5 coolest on record
• Florida was the only state to rank above average for temperatures in October
• Iowa, Arkansas and Louisiana recorded their wettest Octobers ever on record
• Only Florida, Utah and Arizona had below normal precipitation

Regional highlights concerning October 2009 in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa:

• 3rd coldest October on record in Iowa
• 5th coldest October on record in Minnesota
• 9th coldest October on record in Wisconsin
• Wettest October ever on record in Iowa
• 3rd wettest October on record in Minnesota
• 3rd wettest October on record in Wisconsin

What I find interesting about the numbers from across the entire nation for October 2009 is that pretty much everyone was extremely cool and extremely wet. More often than not, our country is big enough that when one part of the country is extremely cool… then another part of the country tends to be warmer than average. Same with precipitation, if one part of the country is extremely wet… then another part of the country tends to be drier than average. For example a huge trough of low pressure could dominate much of the month over the eastern half of the nation, leading to cool and wet conditions there. Often times when that occurs, a huge ridge would dominate out west and provide warm and dry conditions. This just follows the idea that the atmosphere likes to be in balance and sort of even things out so to speak, but that just wasn’t the case in October 2009.

Speaking of balancing things out… through the first half of November, it’s been a warmer and drier than average month in La Crosse. In fact, the average temperature through the first 15 days of the month is 45.1 degrees, which is warmer than the average temperature of 44.5 degrees we had in October. As for precipitation, only 0.12″ of rain has fallen which is almost an inch below average.

So I guess you could say we’re finally enjoying some October weather. It only took until November to get here.

Until next time, see you in the morning!