AUSTIN (KXAN) – “How long can you handle this summer heat?” “When will the fall air arrive?” “Is it going to rain again?”
These were just a sample of the questions asked to the First Weather Warning Team during the month of October. It seems that summer temperatures will not go away with the extreme heat witnessed in the region, especially during the first fifteen days of the month.
The first two days the highs were in the upper 90s, then the low to mid 90s through the 15th. There was a brief dip into the 80s on the 16th, then a few days in the 90s until the last Saturday of the month when Austin reached a high of 79 degrees, the first and only day with a “normal” high. This also coincided with only one of two rainy days in the month.
The fall air finally arrived in the last three days of the month when we had the only blue box days with highs below normal. These fall highs came thanks to a cold front that moved in on the 28th.
The average high of 89.5 degrees is 7 degrees above the monthly average. The average low temperature was 64.5 degrees, just under 4 degrees above normal. Mornings were cooler on the 30th and 31st when the area saw several lows in the 30s and 40s.
The area’s first freeze occurred on the 30th in the far western Hill Country when low temperatures dropped to 32 degrees and below specifically in Fredericksburg, Llano and Mason.
When everything was added up and broken down, October’s average temperature of 77 degrees tied with 1931 for the second-warmest temperature in Austin’s history, behind last year’s 78.1 degrees.
To be sure, rain has been scarce, continuing a pattern that began after the Fourth of July weekend flooding. After only 0.08 inches throughout September, October started out very dry.
Rain would finally fall on the 24th and 25th, and both days’ measurements were 1″ to 2″, with a few measuring 3″ and one measure in the Hill Country exceeding 4″.
The combination of a developing La Nina and a stubborn streak of high pressure aloft kept rain away for most of the month.
Depending on how you look at it, the 2.76 inches of rain total for October, typically the second-wettest month of the year (3.91 inches), was either the 69th driest month or the 61st wettest. Your choice.
The November forecast from the Climate Prediction Center continues the trend these forecasts have shown over the past few months. The month is expected to be warmer than normal and drier than normal.
November is the fourth coolest month with an average temperature of 61 degrees and the fifth wettest month with a normal rainfall of 2.92 degrees.
