Do you remember September? Let me refresh your memory. It was sunny and nice with above average temperatures. Boy did that change in October. October turned out to be a cool, cloudy and wet… Just the opposite of September.

In fact, temperatures ran more than three degrees below average, making it the 13th coolest October on record.

Meanwhile, October was the second wettest on record with more than 5 inches of rain. We more than doubled the average rainfall for the month. And when it wasn’t raining, chances are it was cloudy. 18 of the 31 days in the month were considered cloudy. It is a touch above average. There are 15 cloudy days in an average October.

If you are hoping that this trend comes to a halt, keep your fingers crossed. November is the cloudiest month of the year with an average of 19 days shielded from the sun.

It begs the question why. Why does it tend to be cloudier in the Fall and Winter than in the Summer?

The answer may partially come down to stability. The atmosphere tends to be more stable during the winter months. Therefore, when we see clouds we often see what is known as stratus clouds. They are the low lying clouds which can blanket an entire area.

This hypothesis may not be the only reason behind the cloudy weather. In November specifically, there maybe more cloudy days due to the weather pattern. Systems coming from Canada may draw in moisture from snow on the unfrozen landscape.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut