October was wet, windy, wintry

The month started with an Indian summer high temperature of 71 degrees and ended with a frigid low of 30. It brought windstorms and the rainiest day in Seattle history — a 5-inch deluge on Oct. 20.

"We had all the weather extremes you usually see in winter in one month," said National Weather Service meteorologist Dustin Guy.

Except snow, that is. The white stuff didn't show up in October, but light snow was reported in the Olympia area and in southwestern Washington late last night. A mix of rain and snow was possible in the Seattle-Tacoma area, forecasters said.

The earliest measurable snow on record for the area came Oct. 27, 1971, when 2 inches fell on Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Last month wasn't a typical October — unless you were from Denver or someplace east of the Rocky Mountains, Guy said.

"In Seattle, people are used to more moderate weather," he said. "This was a roller-coaster month."

Still, it looked a lot like an average October in the end. The average high temperature was only slightly above normal; same for the average low temperature.

Rainfall was well above normal, but take away the Oct. 20 downpour and precipitation would have been right near the 30-year average.

As dramatic as October was, it doesn't mean winter will be out of the ordinary.

"Just because it was a wild month, it has no bearing necessarily on what we are going to see the rest of the year," Guy said.

The long-range outlook calls for higher-than-normal temperatures, he added, but it's too early to predict how much precipitation the winter will bring.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com