October 2015 Highlights

 

 

While October in years past has brought the Northeast some unusual weather (remember Sandy and the October 2011 snow storm?), October 2015 was the epitome of an autumn month. In typical fall fashion, many recorded the first freeze of the season and a few even saw the first flakes! Simiarly to September, the month also featured length dry spells. Despite the limited rain events, two events occurring at the month's bookends dumped heavy rain which accounted for 80 - 90% of the monthly total and allowed many south of New York City to finish with near normal rainfall. Further north, New England finished drier than normal as one of the two heavy rain events missed the area. Read on to learn more of the month's highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The month's first notable event came right at the start as moisture from Hurricane Joaquin combined with a frontal boundary. Since it stalled over the Northeast for three days, temperatures remained cool in the 50s and 1 - 3 inches of rain soaked areas from D.C to New York City. Those in New England were too far north and only saw a few showers. The days following warmed with a few recording the month's highest daily temperature on the 9th before a cold front ushered in strong to even severe thunderstorms. Some of the Philadelphia metro area and central New Jersey recorded high wind gusts up to 50 - 60mph. 

The month's next highlight came between October 18th and 19th when the first taste of winter hit the Northeast. A chilly Canadian air mass filtered cold air into the region, keeping temperatures 10 - 15 cooler than normal and allowing many interior areas to record the first freeze and even the first flakes! At 25 and 21 degrees in Allentown, PA and Hartford, CT, respectively, it was the first time Allentown dropped to 25 degrees before October 20th since 1976 and it was Hartford's fourth coldest October temperature on record! Impressively, Boston, MA saw its earliest first freeze since 1974 falling to 31 degrees on the 19th and had its earliest trace of snow since October 8, 2001!

Dry conditions continued into the second half of October and those in the mid - Atlantic reached two weeks without measurable rainfall. Luckily, a system containing the remnants of Hurricane Patricia, one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, dumped 1 - 2 inches of rain over the entire region on October 28 - 29th. For those in New England, this final rain event saved the month from ranking among the driest Octobers on record. However, it wasn't enough to completely compensate the deficits and the region ended 1.50 - 2.50 inches drier than normal. The system then exited in time for the Northeast to enjoy a seasonable and dry Halloween. For a closer look at October's daily rainfall pattern, see our graphs.