October 2004 was beautiful with 7 days in the 70s and was 1.5 degrees above normal and dry. This October has been chilly with only 5 days in the 60s and an average temperature more than 4 degrees below normal. Rainfall was almost 6”, or nearly 3” above normal. So looking at trends for a possible mild fall this year is already a bust.

 

If you are holding out hope for a repeat of 2004, November was 4 degrees above normal and December was more than a degree above normal. However, December only had 1.3” of snow, 10” less than the average, but January 2005 made up for that with 29” of snow. The warming trend continued for January with an average temperature of 1.6 degrees above normal and February was nearly 5 degrees above normal with 9 “ of snow. As for now, we remain in a cool and wet pattern, but we can hold out hope that El Nino will bring us a drier and more mild winter than the past two winters.