ckoplien@todaystmj4.com

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My friends at our local National Weather Service office in Sullivan dug through the record books to uncover some rather unsurprising news:

It's been unusually cold so far this month.

In fact, they have determined that through Saturday, October 17th, this has been the 5th coldest October on record in Milwaukee.

Through the 17th...

the average high temperature was 51.9 degrees...

...and...

...the average low temperature was 41.2 degrees.

This calculates to an average overall temperature for the month of 46.6 degrees.

That is 7.7 degrees below normal for the time period.

Here are the top 10 coldest Octobers through the 17th of the month:

#1:  42.4 -- 1876
#2:  43.5 -- 1875
#3:  46.2 -- 1952
#4:  46.5 -- 1917
#5:  46.6 -- 2009
#6:  47.6 -- 1977
#7:  47.9 -- 1872
#8:  48.5 -- 1981
#9:  48.8 -- 1987
#10:  48.9 -- 1925

As you can see, we haven't had an October that has started this cold since 1952.  And, we haven't even been close since 1987.

Where do we go from here?

While the beginning of this week will be warmer, there is reason to believe that next weekend will turn quite chilly again...with  chilly weather continuing into next week.

Right now, I'd put my money on us maintaining our position in the top 10 coldest Octobers...and can't rule out the possibility of climbing the list and getting closer to #1.