Looks like all the overcast skies we have had around are more excessive than normal for October… the National Weather Service released a statement mentioning this October is currently on track to be the cloudiest October ever. Some highlights from the statement include:
- 86% of the month has been under cloudy skies.
- Only 1820 minutes of sunshine have been recorded this month as of Oct 13.
- We will need to average 7 hours of sunlight per day the rest of the month to not break the record.
- 11 days with measurable rain so far this month.
- 4.08 inches of rainfall at DFW this month.
- This months average temperature is 64 degrees, 6.6 below normal.
- So far this is the 3rd coolest October on record.
…Gloomy October may be one for the record books…
Through October 13…dfw Airport has recorded a dreary 86 percent
cloud cover (sunrise to sunset) or 14 percent possible sunshine.
Although the month is not yet half over…this is on pace to be
among the cloudiest octobers on record.Dallas/Fort Worth – cloudiest octobers (1944-present)
cloud cover sunshine precip rain
(sunrise-sunset) minutes total days1 2002 73 percent 9621 6.44 16
2 1981 71 percent 9587 14.81* 14
3 1984 70 percent 9302* 6.50 20** extreme values for October
The average cloud cover the remainder of the month would need to be
64 percent to exceed the amount from 2002.There have been only 1820 sunshine minutes through October 13. There
will need to be an average of around 7 hours of sunshine every day
for the remainder of the month to prevent 2009 from breaking the
record for fewest sunshine minutes in October.Other statistics…
The normal cloud cover for October is 45 percent. The normal percent
of possible sunshine 63 percent.There have been 11 rain days and 4.08 inches of rain so far this
month.The average temperature for the month so far is 64…which is 6.6
degrees below normal. The average high temperature has been 71.7
and if the month ended today this would rank the 3rd coolest on
record.
