Ithaca Climate Summary for October 1997

Temperature

• With an average temperature of 48.0 degrees, the month of October averaged 1 degree cooler than normal. This was the coolest October since 1993.
• The last four months and seven of the last eight have been cooler than normal.
• The warmest temperature of the month was 80 degrees, reported on the 8th and 9th. These temperatures highlighted a stretch of unseasonably warm weather between the 3rd and 14th.
• The coldest temperature of the month was 24 degrees on the 26th.
• The fall¹s first occurrence of a 28 degree temperature (often referred to as a ³killing freeze²) occcurred on the 16th. This was right on schedule, cooresponding exactly to the long-term normal date.

Precipitation

• October rainfall totalled just 1.26 inches, which was 39% of normal.
• This was the 3rd driest October in the last 31 years.
• A measurable amount of rain fell on 11 days, just 2 less than normal, but amounts were light.
• Nine of the ten months this year have had below normal rainfall.
• The annual precipitation deficit at the end of the month was 7.43 inches, which represented 75% of normal.