October 2012 Revisited

October 2012 was:

Above average: Temperature, rain
Average or near: Solar radiation
Below Average: Wind
 
In October, my station's average temperature of 53.1° was warmer than the long term October average of 51.2°, and warmer than the more recent (2001-2011) average of 51.1°.  The official average temperature in Hood River, recorded at HOXO, was 51.7°.

The maximum temperature (at my station) was 83°, and the low temp was 31°. Official Hood River highs and lows (at HOXO) were 83° and 28°.  The high heat index (at my station) for the month was 81°, and the low wind chill was 31°.

My station at May and Rand had its first frost (31°) on the 6th, but fortunately for the tomatoes and peppers, it wasn't a killing freeze.  That didn't happen until the middle of December, which is another story.

Solar radiation averaged 234 Ly/day, compared to an average October solar radiation of 243 Ly/day.  Pretty close to average.

October is traditionally the transitional month for rain around here.  Typically, we get little to no rain from about July 5th to about October 15th, and then... the rainy season begins.   This year, it began on October 12, and never looked back.

My station had 4.53" for the month, and HOXO officially recorded 3.90".  An average October gets 2.24", so we ended up way over average.  Which was good, because it extinguished, once and for all, the wildfires mentioned in the previous blog post.

The max rain day was October 15th, when HOXO recorded 0.77", and I got 0.71".

The 24 hour average wind speed at my weather station was 1.6 mph, compared to an average October wind speed of 2.2 mph. The peak wind gust was 28 mph.   Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were, of course, higher.  

Barometric pressure peaked at 30.43", and the low barometric was 29.59".

There were no local weather records set this month.

These monthly summaries use data from my weather station located near May and Rand Streets in Hood River. To view my weather station's data for October 2012, click here.  For official Hood River data, and historical averages/records, the data comes from both the manually read NOAA station at MCAREC, and HOXO, the automated station located right next to MCAREC.

October is, among other things, football season.  And so is late January, which is when I'm actually posting this, because I have serious procrastination issues when it comes to this blog.   So, as much as I would like to claim this belated post is purposefully timed to come out just before SuperBowl 2013.... Yep, it's purposefully timed! (or not)