Assessing the U.S. Climate in October 2024

Key Points: 

• On October 29, the U.S. Drought Monitor noted that 87.16% of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing abnormally dry to exceptional drought conditions, a record in the program's 25-year history.
• Despite Hurricane Helene causing record wet conditions across much of the Southeast in late September, record to near-record dryness in October resulted in the return of drought or abnormally dry conditions across the region.
• October 2024 was second warmest and tied for second driest on record for the nation.
• Year-to-date temperatures were second warmest for the contiguous U.S., with most of the record heat concentrated from the Great Lakes to the Northeast.

Other Highlights:

Temperature

The average temperature of the contiguous U.S. in October was 59.0°F, 4.9°F above average, ranking second warmest in the 130-year record. Generally, October temperatures were record warm across portions of the West and Deep South with above average temperatures dominating much of the remainder of the contiguous U.S. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas each ranked warmest on record for October, while California, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado each ranked second warmest on record. An additional 10 states ranked in their top-10 warmest October on record.

The Alaska statewide October temperature was 27.8°F, 2.3°F above the long-term average, ranking in the middle third of the 100-year period of record for the state. Near-normal temperatures were observed across much of the state with above-normal temperatures concentrated across parts of the North Slope, West Coast, Aleutians and Northeast Gulf regions. 
 

For January–October, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 58.3°F, 3.3°F above average, ranking second warmest on record for this period. Temperatures were above average across the Lower 48 with record warmth concentrated across portions of the Southwest and from the Upper Midwest to the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast. New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine each experienced their warmest January–October on record. An additional 35 states had a top-10 warmest year-to-date period.

The Alaska January–October temperature was 32.0°F, 2.4°F above the long-term average, ranking in the warmest third of the historical record for the state. Much of the state was above normal for this 10-month period while temperatures were near average across much of the Panhandle and portions of south central and eastern interior regions.

Precipitation

October precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 0.95 inch, 1.21 inches below average, tying for second driest with October 1963. Precipitation was below average across much of the Lower 48 with pockets of above-average precipitation across portions of the Rockies and Florida. Delaware and New Jersey both had their driest October on record. Nineteen additional states from Texas to the Northeast had a top-10 driest October on record for this period.

Across the state of Alaska, the average monthly precipitation was 4.04 inches, ranking in the middle third of the historical record. Precipitation was above average across portions of the North Slope and Central Interior regions and near average across portions of Cook Inlet and the Panhandle. Below-average precipitation occurred across portions of the West Coast, Bristol Bay, the Aleutians and the Southeast Interior regions during the month. 

The January–October precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 26.17 inches, 0.83 inch above average, ranking in the wettest third of the 130-year record. Precipitation was near to above average across portions of the West Coast, Great Lakes, Deep South and from Florida to the Northeast. Louisiana ranked 10th wettest for this 10-month period. Conversely, precipitation was below average across parts of the Northwest, northern Rockies and Plains, Southwest, central Plains and Ohio Valley.

The January–October precipitation ranked in the wettest third of the 100-year record for Alaska, with above-average precipitation observed across much of the North Slope, West Coast and in parts of the Central Interior region and southern coastal communities. Precipitation across the Panhandle ranged from below average to slightly above average for this 10-month period.

Other Notable Events

Persistent heat and dry conditions caused rapid expansion of drought, setting records across the U.S. in October:

• At least a half-dozen long-term stations across the Mid-Atlantic, including Philadelphia, Newark, Trenton, Norfolk and Wilmington, Delaware, set records for the number of consecutive days without measurable precipitation from late September through early November. 

Hurricane Milton, which was included in the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster count update released in late October, made landfall near Tampa, Florida, as a Category 3 storm on October 9, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall about 200 miles to the north. More than 100 tornado warnings were issued across Florida and millions were without power as a result of the storm. 

• Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico and became the Gulf’s strongest late-season storm on record and the fifth-most-intense Atlantic hurricane on record.

Drought

According to the October 29 U.S. Drought Monitor report, about 54.1% of the contiguous U.S. was in drought, up about 22.6% from the beginning of October—the largest four-week drought expansion on record. Moderate to exceptional drought was widespread from the Deep South to the northern Plains, across much of the Great Lakes, and in portions of the Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and across much of Hawaii.

Drought conditions expanded or intensified across nearly all of the regions already experiencing drought due to the dry and warm conditions throughout much of the month.

Monthly Outlook

According to the October 31 One-Month Outlook from the Climate Prediction Center, above-normal monthly average temperatures are favored across much of the eastern U.S. and northern Alaska. Portions of the central Plains and Midwest are favored to see above-normal monthly total precipitation. Drought improvement or removal is forecast from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes and across parts of Hawaii, while persistence is more likely across the Northwest, Southwest, northern Plains and Rockies and across portions of Texas, the Gulf Coast and portions of the Northeast. Drought development is likely in parts of the Southeast.

According to the One-Month Outlook issued on November 1 from the National Interagency Fire Center, above-normal significant wildland fire potential exists from the central Gulf Coast states to southern New England during November.

This monthly summary from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides to government, business, academia and the public to support informed decision-making. For more detailed climate information, check out our comprehensive October 2024 U.S. Climate Report scheduled for release on November 14, 2024. For additional information on the statistics provided here, visit the Climate at a Glance and National Maps webpages.