October in Southern New England usually features plenty of apples, pumpkins and beautiful views of the fall foliage. It is also the month where fall weather really begins to settle in, with daytime highs usually in the 60s and overnight lows in the 40s. The first frost of the season typically occurs in October – early in the month in the countryside, and late in the month in the cities and near the coast.
October in the Providence area is also known for some wild weather extremes, including a 90° day in 1949. It can also get quite cold in October, with record lows below freezing every day after October 5. In fact, there were a couple of three-day stretches in the 70s when the temperature nose-dived. October 16-18, 1978 featured record lows of 28°, 30°, and 28°. It was even colder from October 26-28, 1976 when the temperature dropped to 27°, 20°, and 24° on those three days.
Snow is certainly not unheard of in October. Just two years ago a freak snowstorm brought several inches of snow to inland Southern New England on October 29-30. On October, 18, 2009 the New England Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans 59-0 on a snowy day in Foxboro, MA.
Of course, last year the major October weather event was Superstorm Sandy which hit on October 29. The storm wreaked havoc in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England with significant coastal flooding and damaging wind. Maybe we should circle October 29 on the calendar given what’s occurred on that date the past two years!
Looking ahead to October
October 1
Normal high: 69
Normal low: 49
October 31
Normal high: 59
Normal low: 40
Record low temperature for the month: 20° (10/27/1976)
Record high temperature for the month: 90° (10/10/1949)
The normal September monthly rain is 3.93″ in Providence.
Full Hunter’s Moon on October 18 at 7:38 pm EDT.
We lose 1 hour 20 minutes of daylight this month – about 2 minutes 35 seconds per day!
October 1
Sunrise: 6:43 am
Sunset: 6:27 pm
11:44 possible daylight
October 31
Sunrise: 7:17 am
Sunset: 5:41 pm
10:24 possible daylight