Last month built up a big temperature surplus with a balmy first half in Berks County, but a return to seasonable conditions prevailed for the second half and it ended tied as the second-warmest October on record.
The average temperature tied with 2007 at 61.5 degrees, pretty far below 1947’s 62.6 degrees in meteorological terms. The temperature database begins with 1898.
The official weather service station in Berks is the automated equipment at Reading Regional Airport.
“October 2007 had more in the way of extended summer heat but turned more seasonally cool during the second half,” said Berks weather historian Jeffrey R. Stoudt. “Extremes of warm and cool were more blunted during October 2021 with the highest of 84 and none below 40.”
Stoudt dug a little deeper into the daily highs and lows to break the tie.
“The difference was decided by the smallest increment,” he said.
Adding all the highs and low together, “Octobers 2007 and 2021 computed to 3810 and 3811 degree points, respectively. That means 2021 has the very slight edge with 61.46 (degrees) versus 61.45, both low-end 61.5 scores.”
As far as the National Weather Service is concerned the months are tied, but nuances are lost in the averaging and rounding.
October 2007 contains the latest 90-degree in a year: 91 on the 9th. There was a 93 on Oct. 2, 2019. The hottest October day is 94 degrees on Oct. 5, 1941.
The 84-degree high on Oct. 15, 2021, was a high temperature record, bettering 83 recorded in three other years.
The 1940s figure prominently in the warm-weather records for October, and other months, mainly in the spring.
The rainfall
“The rainfall pattern was a near copy of October 2020,” Stoudt said. “It, too, brought scant rainfall prior to the last several days, when copious rains prevented a really dry October but still fell significantly short of normal.
“The month totals were very close, 2.44 inches this October versus 2.40 last year.”
“Most of Berks County got greater total rainfall than the Reading area and especially the airport,” Stoudt said.
“Thunderstorms prowled part or all of Berks on four occasions,” he added. “Their downpours were scattered, missing most areas, or were very brief.”
For the year, 39.58 inches of precipitation have been recorded at the airport, 0.8 above normal. The current normal, the averages of the years 1991 to 2020, is the highest Berks has seen in terms of precipitation.
In temperatures, the same period is the second-highest on record, trailing only 1931-1960.
Current conditions
The forecast lived up to expectations with the morning low Wednesday of 31 degrees at the airport.
It was the first subfreezing temperature at the airport since April 3.
A series of days with morning lows at or slightly below the freezing mark are expected through the week before warmer conditions emerge on Sunday, according to AccuWeather.
The 31-degree reading was below normal but well off the date record of 25 in 1980. The 1970s and ’80s figure prominently in cold-weather records in the colder months.
But, last decade has six cold-weather date records in November, too
October weather
61.5: Temperature
56.2°: Normal
2.44″: Rainfall
3.80″: Normal
Records
84 degrees on the 15th (83; 1920, 1960 and 1989)
Warmest Octobers by average temperature:
62.6 degrees: 1947
61.5: 2007 and 2021
61.2: 1949
60.6: 1963
60.3: 2017 and 1920
60.2: 1941
59.8: 1946
59.7: 1900 and 1984
Rainfall totals from the Berks Area Rainfall Networks:
Morgantown, 5.44; Wernersville (N), 5.16; South Mountain, 4.64; Womelsdorf, 4.63; Bernville, 4.44; Topton, 4.41; Mohnton (Northridge), 4.40; Landis Store, 4.34; New Morgan, 4.31; Gilbertsville and Wernersville (S), 4.20; Henningsville, 4.04; Knauers, 4.01; Hopewell, 3.86; Shartlesville, 3.82; Midvale Manor, 3.74 and Mohnton (2), 3.74; Cornwall Terrace, 3.73; Adamstown, Newmanstown and Pine Grove, 3.70; Mohrsville, 3.68; Scarlets Mill, 3.63; Douglassville, 3.59; Boyertown, 3.57; Bally, 3.55; Reading (near City Park), 3.54; Blue Marsh Dam, 3.53; Mohnton (1), 3.51; Sinking Spring and Gibraltar, 3.46; Lobachsville, 3.44; State Hill, 3.41; Reiffton, 3.38; Boyers Junction, 3.37; Shoemakersville, 3.34; Spring Ridge, 3.33; Shillington, 3.30; Lincoln Park, 3.26; Wyomissing, 3.22; Pikeville, 3.21; Wyomissing (Highlands), 3.17; West Reading, 3.11; Reading (Hillside), 3.09; Jacksonwald, 3.05; Hamburg (N), 2.92; Bechtelsville, 2.86; Oley, 2.84; Cumru Township municipal building, 2.83; Muhlenberg Park, 2.76; Pricetown, 2.59; and
Greenfields, 2.56.
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment