Remarkable October

Posted at 8:43 AM on November 1, 2010 by Paul Huttner (3 Comments)
Filed under: Climate, Fall

It's hard to believe we woke up to November this morning.

A nearly perfect Halloween made for great trick for treating this year. Our high Sunday was 49, and light winds with temps in the 40s made for ideal Halloween night weather. Oh how I remember those parka-clad Halloween nights of the frigid 1970s. If this is climate change in Minnesota, at least Halloween weather seems to be improving for the little ghouls and goblins.

An October to remember:

October was another remarkable and record setting month in Minnesota's "anything goes" weather year of 2010. "Expect the unexpected" somebody once said, and 2010 is all that for Minnesota. Here are some of the highlights for October 2010:

-Minnesota all time record low barometric pressure record. October 26th (28.21") at Big Fork.

"Octobomb" winds up over Minnesota last Tuesday.

-Warmest October in 47 years! (since1963)

-Temps +5.3°F (Monthly average 54.0°F for metro)

-Longest dry spell in 30 years ended October 23rd

-10th latest frost on record (October 28th)

-Growing season 2010 was 171 days... a full 10 days longer than average. (May 9th-October 27th

-Warm October makes 7 of the past 8 months above average in Minnesota.
Election Day weather good:

Election Day weather looks good in Minnesota. A cold front will cut into northwest Minnesota late Tuesday bringing a few showers, but most of Minnesota will enjoy dry mild weather Tuesday. The front will slide south brining a chance of showers overnight for southern Minnesota.

Roller coaster temps:

Expect roller coaster temps this week. Tuesday may be as close as we come to Indian Summer this year. Highs may approach 60°F ahead of a cool front sagging south on Wednesday. The bottom of the coaster will feature a bracing wind chill on Thursday, before things warm up again by next weekend. Saturday may feature milder breezes with temps in the 50s to near 60 again.

The computers are hinting at the possibility of much colder weather next week.

Enjoy the quiet and relatively mild start to November.

PH

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Comments (3)

Trace of snow and lots of sunshine in the Twin Cities. Would have been a good month to extend the MLB playoffs at Target Field.

Posted by Craig | November 1, 2010 9:53 AM

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Your memories of the 1970s are not supported by the climate records. In the Twin Cities, Halloween 2002 and 2006 were colder (as measured by daily average temperature) than any Halloween in the 1970s. Temps on Halloween during the decade 2000-2009 were 2 degrees colder on average than 1970-1979.

Posted by C. Hughes | November 1, 2010 11:27 AM

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Yes...but when we were kids the weather was colder...snow drifts were THIS high and we had to walk 2 miles to school!

Maybe I only trick or treated in the cold years.

PH

Posted by Paul Huttner | November 1, 2010 4:13 PM

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