October brought heat, smoke, and sudden cooling rain to the Pacific Northwest

SEATTLE — Oct.1, the first day of the water year.

That’s a running total, across 12 months, of precipitation totals measured from rain, to snow, to ice, however, it melts out.

Out of the last decade, 40% of soaking rain events started up inside the tenth month of the year. Which is why, this year, the beginning of October felt unnerving with no rain in sight, smoky wildfires, and very warm temperatures.

So warm...no, ...so hot! that not only were several daily-record high temperatures broken but, all-time history was recorded when Seattle hit 80 degrees in October, not once, but twice!

RELATED | Seattle reaches latest 80 degree day to date

RELATED | Summer 2022 was Seattle's driest summer on record

The temperature history (see graph below) tracks a warm end of September that rolled above-normal temperatures right into the first several days of October.

By the time we got to the middle of the month, we were experiencing record heat at times and also, days of choking wildfire smoke. The last 11 days of the month crashed in with rain and cooler air.

This graph shows the high temperatures ‘departure from normal’ line, which lies heavily above the normal line.

Rain was needed desperately; the fall storms were tardy on timing. As if taking a base jump, the hot, dry, smoky weather plummeted to below-normal and rainy.

Weather systems lined up to take a shot at putting out wildfires with plenty of rain, mountain snow, and colder temperatures.

Remarkably, the last 11 days of October have brought precipitation totals closer to an inch of normal!

The winter outlook tells us that ocean temperatures are going to steer a La Nina cycle through the end of this year. For Seattle, it translates to better chances of a very wet and cooler-than-normal weather pattern. Perhaps we’ll be skiing as soon as the Thanksgiving holiday.

RELATED | La Niña to bring wetter-than-average winter to Pacific Northwest, NOAA says