Average First Freeze Date

It's that time of year where we have to start thinking about our first freeze of the season. October 30th is the average date that Richmond will see 32° for the first time. The average date for Richmond's first hard freeze (28°) is November 8th.

Generally speaking, if you live west of Richmond, the dates will be earlier. If you live closer to the Chesapeake Bay, then the dates will be later.

Here is a link for all the details:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/akq/climate/FallFrostFreeze.htm

Omar Becomes a Major Hurricane

Maximum sustained winds in hurricane Omar have increased to 115 mph, making the storm a very dangerous category three hurricane. The storm will move northeast across far eastern Puerto Rico and the northern Leeward Islands tonight through early Thursday. Omar will then race northeastward into the central and eventually northern Atlantic Ocean over the weekend. Tropical depression #16 is now over Honduras and has very little organization. Heavy rain will continue to be possible with this area of low pressure, but no further updates will be issued from the National Hurricane Center. Neither of these systems will have an effect on the weather of the U.S. mainland.

Putting Things Into Perspective

Temperatures today will again rise above normal levels (normal high is 70). Although this may seem unusual, temperatures will typically fluctuate up and down through autumn. Just look at last October - we saw fourteen days with highs in the 80s...two were in the 90s! By the end of the month, overnight lows plummeted into the 30s.

Looking farther back, October 2006 had five days in the 80s and October 2005 had nine. So warm days like today are pretty normal.

To sum up - it's normal for the weather to be wacky in the month of October!