October Weather Summary

The October summary for Fairbanks…

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
900 AM AKDT TUE NOV 1 2011

...MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FAIRBANKS ALASKA...

...OCTOBER 2011 IN FAIRBANKS...MILD AND DRY...

FAIRBANKS WAS CONSISTENTLY MILD AND DRY IN OCTOBER. DAILY
TEMPERATURES WERE ABOVE NORMAL ON 24 DAYS DURING THE MONTH....AND
NO DAY WAS MORE THAN TWO DEGREES COOLER THAN AVERAGE. MEASURABLE
PRECIPITATION FELL ON JUST 7 DAYS.

OVERALL...THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT THE AIRPORT WAS 37
DEGREES AND THE AVERAGE LOW 21 DEGREES. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF
28.9 DEGREES WAS 4.7 DEGREES WARMER THAN NORMAL. IN THE PAST TEN
YEARS...EIGHT OCTOBERS HAVE BEEN WARMER THAN AVERAGE.

THE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH AT THE AIRPORT WAS 57 DEGREES ON
THE 2ND. THE LOW TEMPERATURE OF 2 BELOW OCCURRED IN THE LAST HOUR
OF THE MONTH...AND WAS FIRST SUBZERO TEMPERATURE OF THE SEASON. BY
COMPARISON...IN THE PAST 50 YEARS THE AVERAGE DATE OF THE FIRST
TEMPERATURE OF ZERO OR LOWER AT THE AIRPORT IS OCTOBER 28TH.

TOTAL PRECIPITATION...NEARLY ALL OF WHICH FELL AS SNOW...TOTALED
JUST 0.32 INCHES...LESS THAN 40 PERCENT OF NORMAL. THIS WAS THE
DRIEST OCTOBER SINCE 1998.

SNOWFALL TOTALED 4.2 INCHES...LESS THAN HALF OF NORMAL. WHILE THE
FIRST MEASURABLE SNOWFALL DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL OCTOBER 13TH...TWO
WEEKS LATER THAN AVERAGE...THE PERMANENT WINTER SNOW COVER WAS
ESTABLISHED ON THE 18TH...WHICH IS EXACTLY NORMAL. ON HALLOWEEN
THE SNOW DEPTH STOOD AT 3 INCHES...COMPARED TO THE LONG TERM
AVERAGE OF 5 INCHES. SNOWFALL TOTALS IN OCTOBER WERE SOMEWHAT
HIGHER NORTH OF TOWN...WITH 11 INCHES NEAR CHATANIKA AND 9 INCHES
AT KEYSTONE RIDGE.

LOOKING AHEAD TO NOVEMBER...AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FALL SHARPLY EARLY
IN THE MONTH...THEN MORE SLOWLY IN THE SECOND HALF OF NOVEMBER.
THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE FALLS FROM 18 ON THE FIRST TO 7 ABOVE
THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH. THE AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE FALLS FROM
3 ABOVE ON THE 1ST TO 11 BELOW ON THE 30TH. NOVEMBER IS TYPICALLY
THE SNOWIEST MONTH OF THE WINTER IN FAIRBANKS...AVERAGING OVER 13
INCHES ACCUMULATION. IN THE PAST 106 YEARS...TEMPERATURES HAVE RANGED
FROM A HIGH OF 54 DEGREES IN 1936 TO A LOW OF 54 BELOW IN 1906.
SNOWFALL IN NOVEMBER HAS VARIED FROM 0.2 INCHES IN 1953 TO 54
INCHES IN 1970. POSSIBLE SUNSHINE DECREASES FROM JUST UNDER EIGHT
HOURS ON THE FIRST TO LESS THAN 5 HOURS ON THE 30TH.

THE FORECAST FOR NOVEMBER IN FAIRBANKS FROM NOAA`S CLIMATE
PREDICTION CENTER CALLS FOR SLIGHTLY INCREASED CHANCES OF
SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURE.