October Is a Month of Changes – Here's What to Watch For

 Linda Lam

Published: September 30, 2021

October is full of weather changes as we transition from summer to winter.

The amount of sunlight declines during the fall and temperatures get colder, which leads to the first freeze and snowfall of the season. There's also all of that beautiful foliage.

October weather is not all delight. Serious weather threats like hurricanes, wildfires and powerful storms are also concerns.

First Freeze of the Season

Temperatures begin to dip toward the freezing mark farther south as October progresses.

The first 32-degree low temperatures are usually experienced before the month begins in parts of the higher elevations of the West and near the Canadian border.

In October, the first freeze of the season occurs across much of the interior Northeast, Midwest and the Northern and Central Plains.

Areas as far south as the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, the Texas Panhandle and northern New Mexico and Arizona experience their average first freeze by the end of the month.

(MORE: Here's the Earliest You Could See Freezing Temperatures)

Average First Freeze

Fall Foliage Peaks

October is when the large majority of the Northeast, Midwest and West sees the best, most vivid fall colors. However, areas closer to the mid-Atlantic coast and farther south often wait until early November to experience peak fall foliage.

The picturesque color is due to crisp, cool nights and fewer daylight hours.

(MAPS: Current Fall Foliage Status)

Typical time of peak fall colors.

First Snowfall of the Season

Increasingly cold air also increases the chance for snow in parts of the Lower 48.

Accumulating snow is usually restricted to the highest peaks of the Rockies and Alaska in September.

In October, the first snowfall of the season typically happens in much of the Rockies, as well as parts of the Western and Northern Plains. The northern Great Lakes also usually see their first snow of the season in October.

Parts of the higher elevations of the Appalachians, Adirondacks and the Green and White Mountains often see snowflakes this time of year.

The average first measurable snow (at least 0.1 inches) falls in October in several cities, including Caribou, Maine; Marquette, Michigan; Duluth, Minnesota; Bismarck, North Dakota; Great Falls, Montana; Denver; and Anchorage, Alaska.

Last October was full of early-season wintry woes.

In the last week of the month, snow fell as far south as Midland, Texas, and a crippling ice storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City metro area – all while Hurricane Zeta was hammering Louisiana and the Southeast.

Multiple northern locales had their snowiest October on record in 2020, including Great Falls, Montana; Spokane, Washington; St. Cloud, Minnesota; and Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

Average Date Of First Measurable Snowfall

Tropical Threats

Hurricanes and tropical storms remain serious concerns through October.

From 1851 through 2020, 33 hurricanes made a landfall in Florida in October, dwarfing the state with the second-highest number: Louisiana with 12.

In South Florida, October is the month with the most hurricane direct hits. According to NOAA's Best Track Database, 24 October hurricanes have passed within 100 nautical miles of downtown Miami since 1851.

Most recently, Hurricane Michael made its catastrophic Category 5 landfall on the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018.

No hurricanes hit Florida in October 2020. However, hurricanes Delta and Zeta both made landfall in Louisiana during the month at Category 2 and 3 intensity, respectively.

Typical tracks and origins of tropical cyclones in October.

Santa Ana Winds, Wildfire Concern

Southern California's infamous offshore winds, known as Santa Ana winds, typically kick into gear by October, according to a 2017 climatology study.

Fueled by a combination of high pressure in the Great Basin and the southward return of the jet stream, these hot, intense winds squeeze through passes and canyons of the L.A. Basin at times, most commonly from September through March.

What makes them particularly dangerous in October is that soil moisture is at its driest after the summer dry season. These Santa Ana winds can whip either an existing wildfire or just-developed small brush fire into an inferno.

(MORE: Fall is a Dangerous Time For California Wildfires)

The Bobcat Fire, burning in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, pushed toward Mt. Wilson on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020.

Powerful Storms, Severe Weather

Big October storms are also not unusual.

Superstorm Sandy in 2012 was the ultimate recent example of a massive October storm. One of Sandy's unique impacts was its feet of snow burying parts of the Appalachians.

More recently in 2019, a bomb cyclone lashed the Northeast with strong winds and heavy rainfall.

Other big October storms:

-Winter Storm Atlas hammered the High Plains with blizzard conditions in early October 2013.

-The "Snowtober" storm knocked out power to over 3 million in the Northeast in late October 2011.

-The "Octobomb" storm set all-time low-pressure records in Minnesota and Wisconsin and spawned severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the Ohio Valley and mid-South.

-Heavy lake effect snow damaged trees and knocked out power to 1 million customers in Buffalo, New York, in mid-October 2006.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.