Another Warm Month for the Midwest

In the spirit of Halloween, October brought many more treats than tricks weather-wise. Outside of a cool finish to September, the warmer than average conditions continued into fall’s first full month. Was the warm weather also accompanied by an active pattern? Let’s review.

The first 19 days of the month were quite warm, even to the tune of top-five warmth for much of the region. In particular, the stretch from the 15th through the 19th saw the sultriest numbers. The five-day period was the warmest on record for cities such as Indianapolis, IN and three of the major cities in Ohio – Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. For Columbus, the record of 83 degrees set back in 1938 was tied on the 18th. The mornings were quite mild as well, with temperatures failing to fall below the upper 60s in this period, breaking records for the highest daily minimums.

 

 

Overall Average Temperature October 1st – 19th and Rank
	1st - 19th	Average	Departure	Rank	Record
O'Hare	57.7	52.6	+5.1	6th	63.1 - 1962
Rockford	57.2	51.8	+5.4	4th	63.8 - 1963
Indianapolis	61.2	55.1	+6.1	2nd	67.1 - 2007
Cincinnati	62.3	55.9	+6.4	3rd	65.7 - 2007
Dayton	59.8	53.9	+5.9	4th	64.2 – 2007
Columbus	60.0	55.1	+4.9	3rd	66.1 - 2007

 

Eventually, this stretch of above normal temperatures had to come to a halt, as a pair of cold fronts spoiled the party on the 18th and 19th. The first boundary brought strong, gusty winds across Chicagoland, though it lacked moisture overall. While reports of damage from winds were not particularly widespread, it was enough to topple trees in a few instances. If the first disturbance wasn’t enough to cool things down, the next one certainly finished the job. This one was enough to produce some rain as well, but a 20-30 degree drop in temperatures behind the front on the 21st.

 

 

Not only was it a warm October for the Corn Belt states, it was a fairly dry one as well. While precipitation mostly fell short of normal, though, enough rain was squeezed out to keep the area no worse than 50% short of average. Interestingly, contrary to September, Chicago actually received a surplus for the month, highlighted by a daily record rainfall of 1.60" observed on the 26th at O'Hare International Airport. Still, the rain from the previous month was enough to ensure that water tables remained normal by the end of October.