The Weather: October 2010, with showers

Our past month of October has been different than the usual October with respect to showers. The average October on eastern Long Island has many bright, sunny days with two or three days of rain. This October was different. Measurable rain fell on 11 days. During the first seven days, rain fell on six of them and winds were easterly on all but one day. Heaviest rain was on the 15th when 2.06 inches fell. Total rainfall for October was 4.35 inches.

Speaking of records for the month of October, here are two. The least amount of rain recorded in October was .11 inches in 1963. The greatest amount of rain for October  was 19.96 inches in 2005. That’s when one puts his high boots on!

Often, during the last 10 days of October we have a frost. This year we had no frost. On the 22nd and 23rd, the thermometer dropped to 36 degrees on both days, but no frost. On average, daytime temperatures were in the 60s. At night, temperatures ranged from the high 60s to the low 30s. Highest for this October was 75 on the 1st and the lowest was 36 on the 22nd and 23rd.

There were 3 days with 30 mph winds. The windy days in October were the 4th, 15th, 16th and 22nd. On the 15th, gusts to 60 mph were recorded, along with lightning and rain.

As the years go by, the long-term average date for a killing frost is during the last week of October. Your observer saw no frost this October. I well remember having sweet corn for Thanksgiving during WW II. There seems to be a very slow trend with our temperatures staying on the moderate side, and staying longer on a milder pattern as the years go by. This trend is slight and noticeable only when going through the figures year after year. Remember when the icehouse had to be filled each winter? Remember your school days when at each Christmas vacation we hoped there was ice thick enough to skating — and there was? That was back in the 1920s. Now is the time to pick field corn, Brussels sprouts and turnips.

Wind was mainly from the northwest on 12 days. Strongest were 60 mph on the 15th. There were three other days when winds of 30 mph blew over our area … most unusual for October.

Recorded were 11 clear, 8 partly cloudy, and 12 cloudy days during October. As we close the weather data for October, we have just recorded the first killing frost, on November 3rd. Our first white raindrops, “snow,” may occur during the next month. Also the records show November is a windy month. Sure, the duck hunters like it. Now is the time for a fire in the fireplace and as some folks like it, “popcorn” too.