October gave us perfect weather
Here it is November 4th and as I write this article on Wednesday late afternoon our temperature in Uniontown is 81 degrees. Yesterday we had another beautiful day and the temperature also reached a high of 81 degrees.
Along with the sunshine and warm temperatures we were treated to both days having little or no wind as well as perfect humidity levels and good air quality. The normal high temperatures for early November is 58 and the morning low is 36.
Looking back over the month of October, we had almost perfect weather the entire month. Sunny days, pleasant, cool mornings and very little rainfall. October in the Uniontown area ended up with temperatures 3 degrees above average and so far this year it’s been a pleasant one with temperatures averaging 1.5 degrees above average.
We did have a few visits from the Polar Vortex during our winter months, however the balance of the year has been on the nice side. Ninety-degree days totaled only 16 and the last one was on September 3rd. Last year we experienced 28 of these hot days and 2024 saw 29 of those 90-plus days. Our average for the summer months is 14.
The other weather event that made October so nice was the amount of dry days as we had 25 of them and our total rainfall for the month was 2.54 inches of which 2.36 inches fell on the 10th and 11th and the month ended about a third of an inch shy of our average 2.86 inches for October.
It has been a wet year so far and we are 8 inches above our normal. This year is a Super El Nino weather pattern that has brought disruptive weather to much of the planet.
You will recall we had our share of tornadoes and severe weather earlier in the season. We did have a few frosty mornings that ended the growing season when we experienced a low of 29 degrees. Folks who protected plants are still enjoying their beauty in early November.
Looking ahead the Super El Nino that has developed should continue milder and drier than normal conditions for our area through the next few weeks and possibly through much of our winter. South of us expect cooler and wetter and north of our region expect milder and drier conditions.
We will still have some periods of cold and snowy weather but are not looking for a repeat of last winter.
November temperatures average 60 for the high and 40 for the low and by months end we are at 43 and 29. Records are 85 and 1-below zero.
The big strom of 1950 brought 20 to 40 inches of snow across Southwestern Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving 1950 and the storm of 1974 dumped one to two feet of heavy wet snow and paralyzed the area.
We lived in the mountains at the time and were without power for 11 days. Many old-timers will remember these two storms.
Another memory of October is the Election Day flood of 1985 that cause much destruction on the Cheat River Basin as 38 people were killed and damage was $700,000,000.