Mild and Generally Pleasant October

It was generally a pleasant October in southern Manitoba with numerous warmer than normal days and few below normal days in between. Generally warmer than normal conditions are expected to continue this November. As has been the case in many strong El Nino winters, this coming winter has a good chance of being above normal as well.

22 days exceeded 10°C in October, above the normal of 17 days. The warmest conditions coincided with the Thanksgiving long weekend. Temperatures reached the low to high 20's on Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th. Although Winnipeg didn't break any records, many parts of southern Manitoba did. The warmest temperatures were seen along the US border where highs near 28°C occurred in Pilot Mound, Morden and Sprague.

Wpg Oct 12, via Jeff Stapleton/CBC

The Thanksgiving weekend wasn't all perfect as a strong low pressure system brought southern Manitoba its stormiest day of the month on Monday the 12th. Vicious winds were the main story with sustained winds of 60 to 80 km/h and gusts of 85 to 100 km/h in the morning and afternoon. Damage occurred, especially to trees and power lines. The system also brought some weak thunderstorms on Sunday evening, including in Winnipeg. This was just over a week later than the 1981-2010 normal last thunderstorm of the year of October 2.

Frequent light rains brought rainfall totals slightly above normal in Winnipeg. Only 35.9 mm fell at the airport but closer to 45 mm fell in South St Vital. Normal is about 33 mm. No snow was officially recorded, only the 16th October since 1872 to not receive a single snowflake. Some snow pellets did fall in some isolated parts of the city mid month however.