Oct 2, 2019 3 min read

Can you believe it’s October already?

Not that it really feels like October. Normal highs for this time of year in our region average in the upper 60s with lows typically reaching the upper 40s. This September ended with temperatures averaging more than 4 degrees warmer than normal for the entire month. And how often do you remember us flirting with 90 degrees on Oct. t? It’s not unheard of, and the past couple of years we have seen a 90-degree day pop up in early September. This year, temperatures were warm overall through the summer yet we managed to avoid searing stretches of 90-degree days. In fact, as of Oct. 1, we only reached 90 degrees three times all year with one of the days falling on Sept. 11. It was still plenty warm, though, with the mercury topping out at 89 several times.

In early fall, it’s already tough enough to decide whether you should still wear shorts and sandals or grab a sweatshirt and socks. This September, it was more typical to start off craving a nice, hot cup of coffee on a few cool mornings, then feel like you needed iced tea to cool off later in the day. If you’re sick of the heat, don’t fret – cooler, more refreshing fall temperatures arrive in just a day or two!

If the temperature didn’t confuse you enough this past month, then just wait until you see these numbers for precipitation. Here’s where things get really wacky. We were all inundated with – and sick of – rain once again to start the summer. We entered the month of September more than 10 inches above normal for yearly precipitation. The month arrived with an even bigger dose of rain dropping a whopping 3.38 inches on the first day of the month – that’s a record for that day. The tropical rainforest feeling across our region was palpable, and then something strange happened: The next three weeks it didn’t rain! In fact, after that huge deluge on the first day of the month, we had only three days of measurable rainfall over three weeks, and those days came in with paltry readings of less than .20 inches.

The same people who were griping about nonstop rain and their lawn being swampy eventually began griping about the heat and their lawns turning brown due to dryness. The grass, apparently, is not always greener. Finally, the last day of September rolled around Monday and sent us out with a bang and some thunderstorms that dropped 1.24 inches of rain in just six hours at Pittsburgh International Airport – a one-day record. Yes, we broke the rain record on both the first and last days of September and saw hardly a drop in between.

What will October’s weather be like? Stay tuned!

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.