October: Not A Fun Month

Tools

By KSFY Staff

Story Created: Nov 6, 2009 at 10:15 AM CST

Story Updated: Nov 6, 2009 at 10:15 AM CST

From all of us in the KSFY Action Weather Center: Good riddance October, we’ll see you next year. Could you have a better attitude next time.

Wow, that felt good to say to October. It was a month full of tough forecasts with tough weather. A friend of mine had a Facebook post that said: “Hello sun, how was your month long vacation for October.” I received reports from both the Aberdeen and Pierre National Weather Services and two reports from the Sioux Falls National Weather Service. None of them were for good reasons and some included some records.

Let’s start with the data that I didn’t even know was kept: Cloud cover. In fact, there hasn’t been a cloudier month since October of 2004 in Sioux Falls. We also had the second fewest clear days since October 2004. A cloudy day is a day that has an average of 75% of the sky covered throughout the day. A clear day is a day when the average sky cover is less than 35%.

On to the amount of rain we had. Sioux Falls experienced the 5^th wettest month at 5.52”. There was also 3.5” of snow, which is 9^th all time. Huron also had the 5^th wettest month with only 3.90” of precipitation. The snowfall was 2.6”, which was only the 14^th greatest of all time. Browns Valley received 7.36” of rain which shattered the old record of 5.73”. Also, Wheaton reported 7.03” of rain, another new record.

You probably noticed the cold more than anything. Sioux Falls had an average temperature of 42.4 degrees which recorded the 4^th coldest on record. Huron was also the 4^th coldest at 41.3 degrees. Pierre had the 2^nd coldest October on record at 40.4. Aberdeen also had the 4^th coldest on record at 40.2.

NWS - Sioux Falls October Report

NWS - Aberdeen October Report

Return to blog

User Agreement

View comments

The following comments do not necessarily represent the views of KSFY.com. Users have agreed to these terms and in doing so accept full responsibility for their comments. Moderation is limited.