September arrived with a warm and dry day but left on a cool and wet day. It seemed like a pleasant month, but we sure had some downpours on those eight rainy days.
We ended with 3.87 inches in the rain gauge, which was 2.44 inches above the 1.43-inch average. We smashed the average rainfall for the entire month in just one day, with 1.47 inches on Sept. 18.
Well, enough of that wet stuff.
October arrived on a dry note, and the first weekend in October appeared to be rather nice as well. We will see another dry day Monday; things get rather cloudy after that.
Tuesday and Wednesday will most likely have showers, if forecast charts are accurate. The rest of the week could be dry but much cooler. You will feel the difference beginning Tuesday.
No more 70- or 80-degree weather this week. Highs will struggle to reach 60 degrees later on. Lows will be in the 30s in most of the county, maybe staying around 40 in the city. There is plenty of cold air to our north, and October will bring in the chill.
Seeking other cold temperatures, I see that on Oct. 1, it was a whopping 110.6 degrees below zero at the Russian base of Vostok in Antarctica. That was just shy of the coldest temperature ever recorded in October on the planet. Meanwhile, in Fairbanks, Alaska, it was 30 degrees and snowing. That ice station holds the world record for the most reliable low temperature ever of minus 128.6 degrees on July 21, 1983. There was another unofficial temperature reading farther inland in Antarctica in August 2010 of minus 135.8 degrees.
The South Pole registered its winter as having an average temperature of minus 78 degrees. That was recorded at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station between April and September, the coldest temperature since record-keeping began in 1957.
We hope those temperatures stay there and we see more seasonable weather this winter locally.
I had to put my sweatshirt on just typing this. Keep yours handy, too.
