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Near-record warmth, record dry October in the tri-state

The crisp air and autumn breeze was not around much across the tri-state in October.

Julian Seawright and Skyler Harman

Nov 1, 2024, 2:25 AM

Updated 20 days ago

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It is no secret that this October has felt a bit on the toasty side for more days than it felt like fall.
The crisp air and autumn breeze was not around much across the tri-state.
Instead, October had near-record warmth, with more than 12 days where daytime high temperatures were 70 degrees or above.  
Typically, for the five major regions of the tri-state, temperatures are usually within the middle to lower 60s through October.
In 2024, each region saw an average range of 3 to 5 degrees warmer on average through the month of October - making it one of the warmest October’s on record.
In 2024, Islip, New York, saw an average high temperature of 68.7 degrees
The tri-state breakdown was:
White Plains, New York: 67.7 degrees
Bridgeport, Connecticut: 67.6 degrees
Newark, New Jersey: 71.4 degrees
Central Park or New York City: 68.0 degrees
The warmest on record still belongs to 2017.
The average highs were:
Islip, New York: 70.2 degrees
Newark, New Jersey: 72.8 degrees
Bridgeport, Connecticut: 70.5 degrees
White Plains, New York: 70.8 degrees.
Central Park or New York City's warmest October was in 1947 at 72.5 degrees.  
To add insult to fall temperature injury, current forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center suggest that early November temperatures will be trending warmer than typical once more.
So, there will be a hold off of consistent crisp fall air for a little while longer.  
In addition, it was exceptionally dry across the tri-state and for some regions, the driest October on record.  
Drought/Trend information 
It has been an incredibly dry month for the tri-state area. The normal expected amount of rainfall for October for each region is as follows:  
Normal expected October precipitation:
Islip, New York: 3.97”
White Plains, New York: 4.33” 
Bridgeport, Connecticut: 3.84” 
Central Park, New York City: 4.38” 
Newark, New Jersey: 3.79” 
Yet, we only saw a fraction of this throughout the the tri-state.  
Observed: 
Islip, New York: 0.12” 
White Plains, New York: .07” 
Bridgeport, Connecticut: 0.16” 
Central Park, New York City: .01” 
Newark: Trace
Not only was it an exceptionally dry October, but it was also record-breaking dry.  
For Islip, Newark, Central Park, Hudson Valley, and Bridgeport, October 2024 was the driest October on record.
Islip, Central Park, and Newark saw the driest months on record of any month.
Bridgeport and White Plains saw the second driest months on record.  
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) releases a six-10 day temperature outlook that will indicate whether we can expect above average, below average, or around normal temperatures for the time frame indicated. For November 5th-9th, we are expected to have a 80-90% likelihood of seeing above average temperatures.  Based on the same resource but for precipitation, we can expect for the same period to see a 33-40% likelihood for below average rainfall for most of the tri state area.