October 2018 was warm and dry. It was the driest month of this year since

1.62″ was recorded in March. This reversed the generally wet pattern of

the past months, particularly the July-September period. The first 11 days

of the month were warm, with 8 maximum temperatures of 80° or greater,

and averaged 73.2°. The last 20 days of the month contrasted significantly

with consistently below normal temperatures, averaging 51.0°. The strong

front that passed through on the 11th marked the change with the wettest

calendar day of the month (0.91″) All but 0.01″ of the month’s precipitation

fell on the 11th or later. The rainfall on the 11th were from the remnants

of Hurricane Michael. Another storm, more of the nor’easter type, fell

from the 26th till early on the 28th with a storm total of 1.24″. At the

end of the month I still didn’t have a freezing low temperature, but I did

have some frosty mornings during the later days of October. Fall color

change was delayed, and peaked in early November. It was a rapid change

after much of the month still had predominantly green foliage. The year

to date rainfall amount of 51.05″ was still well above normal, and many

Maryland stations look to break long term annual rainfall records.

 

The highest temperature reached during the month was 85.6° on the 4th

while the lowest temperature in October was a frosty 33.7° on the 22nd.

The highest dew point temperature reached during the month was 75°

during our early month warm, humid spell on several days (4,7,8,11) while

the lowest dew point temperature value reached during the month was

30° on the 18th and 25th.

 

Barometric pressure differences during the month increased a bit over

the previous few months, with the lowest values found on the 11th and

12th, when 29.52” was reached during the passage of Hurricane Michael

remnants. The nor’easter on the 26th only reached a low of 29.60”.

October’s highest pressure value for the month (30.46”) occurred on

the chilly, dry 18th.

 

October had 8 cloudy days, 14 partly cloudy days, and 9 clear/sunny

days. There were 281 heating degree days and 90 cooling degree days

during the month. There were 9 foggy days, 7 windy days, and only 1

day with thunder The windy day category is subjective with no personal

real data values to back it, just based on my descriptive email daily

weather posts that are posted on weathertogether.net.

 

Daily max/min temperatures varied a bit more than the previous hot,

humid summer months. My maximum temperature frequencies included

8 days between 80° and 89°, 3 days between 70° and 79°, 8 days

between 60° and 69°, 10 days between 50° and 59°, and 2 days below

50°. On the minimum temperature frequency side of things, there

were 6 days between 30° and 39°, 11 days between 40° and 49°, 3 days

between 50° and 59°, 8 days between 60° and 69° and 3 days above 70°.

The coolest daily max temperature was 47.1° on the 26th with the

warmest daily min temp of 70.3° on the 8th and 9th.

 

The diurnal range daily monthly average was 14.2°. Our greatest daily

range of temperature was a comfortable 25.7° on the 23rd, formed

from a high of 66.7° and the low of 41.0°. We had a total of 6 days

with daily ranges at or above 20.0°. Our lowest range of temperature

was 4.5° (50.1°-46.5°) on the 27th during the aforementioned

nor’easter I had. There were 4 total days with diurnal temperature

ranges of less than 10.0°, mostly during the nor’easter. The generally

drier days helped expand our diurnal ranges somewhat from the low

values of a wetter September. Fortunately I had no more power

(battery) problems with my VP2 weather station as I did in September.

I am still constantly checking on my data quality frequently, along with

discussion and data comparison with several of my Maryland weather

cohorts and reliable online close by observer data. I have begun to

prepare my outside components for the winter, such as removal of the

inner cylinder and funnel to aide in collecting snow and other freezing

precipitation types. I continue to occasionally (as time allows) submit

GLOBE Cloud observations, complete with submission of sky pictures

at the time of the observation, usually timed with the passage of

satellites and/or solar noon (about 70 minutes past actual EDT noon).

Please ask me any questions you want at any time about my station

setup and/or my data through any means available to you. Here is a PDF

of my October data sheet.  2018-10-Rockville-2.8-WNW

OCTOBER 2018 – ROCKVILLE 2.8 WNW MARYLAND – SUMMARY STATISTICS

Average high temperature 65.9°
Average low temperature 51.8°
Mean temperature 58.9°

Precipitation 2.63″ (-0.77” – long-term PRISM normals)
Greatest daily amount (date) 0.91″ (11)
Greatest storm total (dates) 1.24” (26-28)
2018 year-to-date precipitation total 51.05″

High temperature for the month (date) 85.6° (4)
Low temperature for the month (date) 33.7° (22)

Highest barometric pressure (date) 30.46” (18)
Lowest barometric pressure (date) 29.52” (11,12)

Peak wind gust (date/direction): N/A

Heating degree days for the month: 281
Cooling degree days for the month: 90

Greatest diurnal range (date): 25.7° (23)
Least diurnal range (date) 4.5° (27)

Number of days:

Fog 9
Windy 7
Thunder 1
Cloudy 8
Partly Cloudy 14
Sunny/Clear 9
Max temp = 80° = 8
Min temp < 40°= 9
Precip = 0.01” = 9