NCDC’s Climate Extremes Index (CEI), which measures the prevalence of several types of climate extremes, was about 9 points higher than its historical average for the year-to-date. Factors contributing to this elevated 2010 value were: large footprints of warm minimum temperatures (warm overnight temperatures), an abundance of locations experiencing an unusual number of days with precipitation, with very large precipitation totals on those days.
The report also provides an update temperatures in the United States, and as the map at left shows, October was warmer than normal. From the report:
The average temperature for October was 56.9 degrees F (13.8 degrees C), which is 2.1 degrees F (1.2 degrees C) above the 1901-2000 average, the eleventh warmest on record in the United States. Warmer-than-normal conditions prevailed throughout the western U.S. and into the Midwest. Of the nine climate regions, none had below normal temperatures and only two, both along the Eastern Seaboard, experienced an average temperature that was near normal.
October’s temperatures actually represent something of a cooling from earlier in the year, as near record La Niña conditions have taken hold (at least by one measure).
Lastly, one other aspect of the report caught my eye: 121 preliminary tornado reports nationwide during October. The report says the final count will probably show that this past October was fifth in terms of the number of tornadoes recorded nationally during that month.
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