October

October turned out to be one of the busier months of the year. A few rain showers and sun ushered in the month. The growing season came to end about when it normally does...in the first week of October with several frosty nights on the 6th and 7th.

Temperatures bounced back to 60-70 from the 9th through the 11th. But then on the 12th, the bottom fell out. Rain and strong, gusty winds arrived. Cooler air, by way of southwest winds knocked us below freezing for the first time the night of the 12th/morning of the 13th. The southwesterly component of the winds here is key. This trajectory, coupled with unseasonably cold air setup lake effect snow off Lake Erie, which delivered over 20" of accumulation to Buffalo, shattering every early season snow record. We saw this coming a few days in advance. But seeing this in October was nothing short of incredible (click to enlarge):

Aftermath of Buffalo via a picture, satellite imagery and the NWS Buffalo.

We got about a day off before more rain arrived. This occurred on the 17th. Then clouds stuck for the 18th. Then more heavy rain on both the 19th and the 20th caused new flooding problems. On the 20th, the rain ended at the same time a strong shot of cold air arrived, and in many locations snow fell for the first time this season. Up to 2" fell up north, while in the Mohawk basin, many residents were mopping up from more flooding. Our recap can be found here. Unsettled weather occurred from the 21st through the 27th, with periodic lake showers and flurries.

Then on October 28th, a tremendous storm system exploded as it lifted north over us. It brought us a period of heavy rain and localized flooding on the 28th, followed by strong winds that night and into 29th. Then, a major band of lake effect snow developed and dumped on the North Country on the 29th, with 10-16" of snow and 30-60 mph wind gusts. The forecast for both wind and snow was fairly well handled. The end result was quite beautiful for fall, although the wind did cause some problems:

(Click to enlarge)

More viewer photos can be found here. Elsewhere, a recap from WKTV can be found here. A recap from NWS Albany can be found here.

Quiet weather ensued to close out this busy month.