October was warm; November off to a cool start

It was a hot, dry October.

October featured some scorchers, along with a couple near-record lows, that made people ask themselves if the month would ever end.

And like the turn of a switch, the extreme heat disappeared and a cold front arrived Sunday to get November off to a seasonable start — actually featuring highs a few degrees below normal.

"It will be right near average for next week," said Jason Hess, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Jacksonville.

The average high temperature for this time of year is 78 degrees with an average low of 55. And there is very little chance of rain through Sunday.

October turned out to be a warmer-than-usual month, with both highs and lows running above normal. And less than two inches of rain fell across Alachua County.

Only 1.43 inches of rain fell at the official rain gauge at Gainesville International Airport. That’s a little more than half of the 2.5 October average.

"Nearly every single site [official or unofficial] had less than 2 inches," said Jason Hess, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Jacksonville.

Gainesville’s average high and low temperature in October were each three degrees warmer than the average. The average high for October is 81 degrees, with a low of 60.

A typical October features 84 degrees at the beginning and 78 at the end of the month. The low ranges from 64 degrees at the beginning of the month to 55 degrees at the end.

November, however, has brought relief.

The temperatures in Gainesville should range from highs in the mid-70s — with Wednesday’s high possibly hitting 79 degrees — to lows in the mid-50s through at least Sunday.

It was an unusual October that forecasters blame partly on the early stages of the El Niño, which promises to bring a cooler, wetter winter.

Pete Keegan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Jacksonville, said high pressure ridges over Florida blocked cold fronts from making it to Gainesville.

That in turn allowed temperatures to soar into the 90s more than normal during one seven-day stretch — six of seven days between Oct. 6 and 12.

That was followed by a shot of cold air that sent temperatures plummeting into the lower-40s before another high dug in at the end of the month send the mercury back to the upper-80s.

Keegan said more rain is needed. The dry heat of October has made the landscape more susceptible to wildfires.

"There is virtually no rain in the forecast [next six days]," Keegan said. "There’s less than a 10 percent change of rain" for the Jacksonville forecast area.