NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY

OCTOBER 2005

1st-8th...In the East on Monday, scattered showers and thunderstorms
developed along the Southeast coastline and Florida. Rainfall amounts
were generally under one half-inch, with the exception of Homestead,
Florida and Jacksonville, Florida both reporting 0.69 inches, and
Melbourne, Florida recording 0.80 inches. High pressure dominated much
of the rest of the region, bringing partly cloudy skies and dry
conditions to the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Ohio and Tennessee River
Valleys, eastern Great Lakes, and Deep South. In the central region, a
stationary front sparked showers and thunderstorms across the Upper
Midwest, Mid-Mississippi River Valley, lower Missouri River Valley, and
western Great Lakes. The front brought a strong temperature gradient to
the region, with high temperatures in western Iowa, southwestern
Minnesota, and eastern Nebraska topping out at over 90F, while eastern
South Dakota and central Nebraska reached highs in the 70's. Scattered
rain showers also developed over North Dakota, with only minimal
rainfall reported. Isolated showers and thunderstorms developed along
the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts, and across southern Texas.
Rainfall amounts were generally less than one half-inch, while
Angleton, Texas recorded 1.16 inches. Skies were a mix of sun and
clouds across the remainder of the region. In the West, gusty winds
were reported across Montana, the Great Basin, and the central Rockies.
Sustained winds at 20 to 30 mph were recorded, along with gusts over 40
mph. Scattered rain showers developed across the northern Rockies and
Pacific Northwest. Nearly one half-inch of precipitation fell in
Billings, Montana, with over .50 recorded n Omak, Washington. A few
isolated showers developed over areas of New Mexico this afternoon, but
only minimal rainfall was reported. California, the Desert Southwest,
and areas of Nevada experienced partly cloudy skies and dry conditions.
Heavy, wet snow fell in the Dakotas on Wednesday, while Tropical Storm
Tammy
brought heavy rain and gusty wind to Florida and Georgia. The storm in
the northern Plains dumped 13 inches of snow on Dickinson, ND, and
accumulations of several inches were reported across North and South
Dakota. The wet snow and gusty wind combined to trap numerous vehicles
on Interstate 94 and other roads.
The storm also brought rain and thunderstorms to the southern Plains,
western Great Lakes and upper Midwest. In the Southeast, heavy rain and
gusty winds were reported because of Tropical Storm Tammy. Clear and
partly cloudy skies dominated in the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley,
Tennessee Valley and Deep South. Light rain fell in the Pacific
Northwest, but the rest of the West was dry and cool.
In the East on Friday, tropical moisture from the remnants of Tammy and
a strong cold front pushing eastward brought scattered showers and
thunderstorms to a large portion of the region. Rain showers developed
from New England through the Mid-Atlantic into the Southeast. Rainfall
amounts were over 2 inches across many locations in North Carolina,
with Wilmington, North Carolina receiving over 5 inches of rainfall.
Most locations in South Carolina recorded over an inch of rainfall, and
Brunswick, Georgia received over 3 and one half inches of rain. Farther
north, Hagerstown, Maryland recorded 2.80 inches of rainfall, with over
3 inches in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and over an inch and three
quarters in Wellsville, New York. Skies remained cloudy over the Great
Lakes and Deep South today, with skies starting to clear over the Ohio
River Valley. Most of the western two-thirds of the country remained
under a strong ridge of high pressure. Skies were variably cloudy
across the Upper Midwest as skies cleared from west to east. The
southern Plains experienced a few light rain showers in Texas and
Oklahoma during the late afternoon hours, otherwise skies were mostly
sunny over the central United States, with temperatures below normal in
most locations. A few light rain showers developed along the coastline
of the Pacific Northwest, with no significant rainfall reported. The
remainder of the west was subject to sunny skies and dry conditions.
Heavy rain drenched much of the East Coast on Saturday, from eastern
North
Carolina up to Maine. A total of 5.8 inches of rain fell in New Bern,
NC. A few additional showers hung over parts of Ohio and Florida, but
precipitation was light. Conditions were dry with mostly cloudy skies
over much of the Midwest and
Southeast. Clear to partly cloudy skies were reported in the Plains,
southern
Rockies, desert Southwest and Pacific Northwest. A few light showers
remained in northeastern Texas and parts of the lower Mississippi
Valley, but rainfall was light.

9th-16th...Heavy rain moved across southern Texas on Tuesday, while a
cold front spread showers over the Pacific Northwest and northern
Rockies. In the East, showers were scattered across the Northeast and
Mid-Atlantic. Mostly cloudy skies with areas of mist and drizzle
affected the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, Great Lakes, Appalachians,
Carolinas and Gulf Coast. In the nation's midsection, showers and
thunderstorms passed through Kansas and Nebraska. A cold front
triggered showers and thunderstorms across southern Texas. Some areas
received as much as an inch of rain, with Cotulla reporting nearly 3.50
inches and flash flooding. The northern Plains and Mississippi River
Basin had partly sunny skies with dry conditions. In the West, partly
cloudy conditions with mild temperatures prevailed in California, the
Desert Southwest, the Four Corners, the southern Rockies and the Great
Basin. A cold front pushed into the Pacific Northwest and northern
Rockies, bringing mostly cloudy skies with isolated rain showers.
Rain and embedded thunderstorms were the main weather impact across the
eastern United States on Wednesday. Rain continued to fall across much
of New England and across the Northeast. Flooding concerns of previous
days were aggravated by today's additional rainfall amounts of 1-3
inches across the region. No severe or strong weather was involved with
the rainy, wet conditions. Cloudy skies extended across the Great
Lakes, throughout the Northeast, and southward along the eastern
Seaboard. Isolated showers and a few thunderstorms occurred across the
eastern Carolinas and in central Florida. However, no significant
rainfall was reported and precipitation amounts were less than 0.25
inches. Sunny skies and mild weather conditions were common throughout
the middle and low Mississippi Basin, into the Tennessee Valley, and
across the Gulf Coast States.
Pleasant, mild weather was widespread throughout the south-central
portion of the country as an area of high pressure covered much of the
southwestern quarter of the nation. Across the North, an upper-level
trough was slowly migrating eastward, bringing showers to the eastern
Dakotas, and into the far Upper Midwest and western Great Lakes. The
rain in these areas was generally light as the pockets of scattered
showers pushed northeastward across the region through the day.
Rainfall amounts were generally light. In the West, the day started
with some unsettled weather across the Northern Rockies and High
Plains, as scattered rain showers and mountain snow showers were seen
across these regions. This weather ended by afternoon and evening.
However, a pulse of energy brought rain across the Pacific Northwest
and Cascade Range by evening, with rainfall amounts were precipitation
was light. Sunny, fair weather was evident across the Rockies,
Southwest, and Inter-Mountain West. Steady rain continued on Friday in
much of the Northeast, while much of the rest of the country basked
under mostly sunny skies. Some of the heaviest rain in the East was on
New York's Long Island. Amounts at midday included 3.56 inches in
Montauk and 2.25 inches in Farmingdale. Providence, RI, reported more
than one inch. Flooding were reported in areas of New Jersey, New York,
Connecticut and New Hampshire. High pressure systems kept it clear and
dry in the rest of the East and most points to the west. Skies were
mostly sunny in the Great Plains, Mississippi River Basin, Ozarks, the
Rockies, Four Corners, Desert Southwest and southern California.
Rain showers were scattered across southern Texas and the Pacific
Northwest.

16th-22nd...Rain tapered off in the Northeast on Monday, while high
pressure kept skies mostly clear over much of the nation's midsection.
Wind gusting to 35 mph helped the Northeast begin drying out from
recent rain. Scattered showers dampened the Great Lakes. Clear to
partly cloudy skies, and dry conditions, spread from the Ohio Valley
and Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast and the Gulf Coast. A cold front
brought scattered showers to the Midwest while high pressure kept skies
mostly clear over the Plains and Mississippi Valley. Light rain fell in
parts of California, Arizona and Nevada. Patchy fog lingered along the
coast in the Pacific Northwest.
The first rain bands from Hurricane Wilma began hitting southwest
Florida on Friday and moisture from the storm was streaming north,
forecasters said. Rain and thunderstorms spread over much of the
Florida Peninsula. Rain showers also covered parts of the Ohio Valley,
Appalachians, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Southeast. Fair
conditions prevailed across Texas, the Dakotas, Illinois, Missouri, and
Arkansas. But cloudy skies and isolated rain showers affected the Upper
Midwest. Patchy fog lingered over parts of the Washington coastline
this afternoon, and most of the West experienced dry, tranquil weather
conditions.

23rd-31st...In the East on Monday, Hurricane Wilma continued to push
off the eastern Florida coast, then re-strengthened into a Category 3
hurricane. While moving across Florida, wind gusts above 100 mph were
reported at many locations across the southern half of Florida, with a
gust to 121 mph in Naples, Florida. Rainfall amounts of 4 to 5 inches
fell over the area. Melbourne, Florida, and Naples, Florida recorded
over 4 inches of rainfall, with Fort Pierce, Florida receiving over 5
inches. Moisture from the storm moved northward into the Mid-Atlantic
and southern portions of the Northeast. Rainfall amounts of up to an
inch were reported over the Carolinas, with the remainder of the region
measuring around one half-inch. Windy conditions were also reported.
Gusts to 30 and 40 mph were common over the area. Skies began to clear
over the Southeast during the afternoon. A low pressure system trekking
through the Ohio River Valley brought scattered showers to the Great
Lakes, Northeast, and Ohio River Valley. Rainfall amounts ranged from
one .25 of an inch to over an inch. In the western two-thirds of the
country, high pressure brought partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies
across the Great Plains, Rockies, Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, and
Desert Southwest. Light rain showers developed along and west of Lake
Michigan over Wisconsin and eastern Illinois, but little by way of
measurable
precipitation was recorded. Light showers also developed over southern
and central California, with trace amounts of rainfall.
The eastern United States, had rain showers on Wednesday. The rain
tapered off across much of the Northeast and the northern Middle
Atlantic. Light rainfall totals were seen across most of the Northeast.
Maine saw the highest rainfall totals, with totals over a third of an
inch seen in many locations. Winds were also blustery across portions
of the Northeast as the remnants of Wilma pushed away from the coast.
Wind gusts of 43 mph were reported in Belmar, New Jersey, and winds of
45 mph were noted in East Milton, MA. The remainder of the eastern
United States was under high pressure, yielding partly cloudy skies
with dry and fair conditions. In the central third of the nation, a
broad dome of high pressure dominated the weather pattern across this
region. A few light rain showers combined with mostly cloudy skies were
seen across Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan, but no
significant rainfall totals were noted. Scattered thunderstorms
developed across western Texas and the Texas Panhandle as well, but no
severe weather was reported with these storms. Otherwise, partly cloudy
skies with dry and fair conditions were the norm. In the West,
scattered rain showers fell across portions of the Pacific Northwest,
the northern Great Basin, and northern California, with the approach of
an upper level trough of low pressure from the west. Rainfall totals
were generally light with this activity, but a few locations recorded
rainfall totals of over a quarter of an inch. High pressure remained in
control across the rest of the western United
States, bringing continued partly cloudy skies with dry and seasonal
conditions.
Isolated light rain showers fell across portions of the Northeast and
the Middle Atlantic on Friday. No significant rainfall was recorded
with this activity, with no stations recording over a tenth of an inch
of rainfall. Isolated afternoon rain showers were observed across the
western panhandle of Florida in association with daytime heating and
southerly flow off the Gulf of Mexico, but again no significant
rainfall totals were observed. The Ohio Valley, Great Lakes region,
Tennessee Valley, and Southeast states remained under partly cloudy
skies with dry and fair conditions. Across the central third of the
nation, a few isolated thunderstorms developed across southern Texas.
Rainfall totals were insignificant and no severe weather was reported.
Across the western Dakotas, a few isolated rain showers developed as
well, but no significant rainfall was seen. The remainder of the
central United States remained under a dome of high pressure, yielding
partly cloudy skies with dry and fair conditions. In the West,
widespread cloud cover associated with a strong upper level trough
sweeping through the region. Scattered rain showers were reported
across the Great Basin, the Pacific Northwest, and California, but no
significant rainfall reports were seen with this activity. Light snow
showers were also reported across higher elevations of the Rockies, but
again snowfall totals were light. The southern and central Rockies, as
well as the Desert Southwest, remained dry with partly cloudy
conditions in place.
Thunderstorms dropped heavy rain from Texas to the upper Great Lakes on
Monday.
Severe storms dumped up to two inches of rain on eastern Texas and
lower Mississippi Valley. A storm system from the Gulf of Alaska
brought light to moderate rainfall to the Pacific Northwest and
northern Rockies. In the East, high pressure dominated the majority of
the region with mostly sunny skies with dry conditions.