OCTOBER 2001 WEATHER REVIEW
Rainy Season opens on 30th!
Except for a four day period between the 12th and 15th when temps peaked
in the low to mid 80's, October was generally cooler than normal with a
progressively Winter-like pattern developing. Overall, Indian Summer appears
to have been limited to only two significant heat waves, first in late Sept
.and this one...each lasting only 4-5 days. Often, heat waves this time of
year can last for weeks, but not this year. First winter-like rain of 2001-2002
occurred on the 30th, when 2/3" rain fell in Pacifica and up to 2" north
in Napa/Sonoma County and the Santa Lucia Mountains to the south. This first
real storm of the year bore quite a bit of resemblence to the major T'storm
event in mid September as moist air streaming northeast collided with a GOA-type
upper low with good support. The main differences were the October storm's
moisture was not born out of an old hurricane, but rather a long moisture
plume stretching all the way to 15N latitude, not unlike the Pineapple
connections typical of later in the Winter, and higher lifted indecies which
lowered convective activity, although a few locally intense storms erupted
post-frontal in the Central Valley in the aft. This is the first time in
October that I've seen such a continuous stream hitting the coast from the
favored SW direction..and the high rainfall amounts in the Santa Lucia's
reflected this. The Winter storm track has not taken on a defined pattern
as yet, as some storms have now started tracking into the drought stricken
PacNW as well as others continuing the 2+ year trend of diving N-S down the
coast as upper level lows and deep offshore troughs. Will have to reserve
judgement as to the upcoming pattern until mid-November at least, assuming
that a discernable pattern evolves at all. Flora continues to rapidly develop
fall characteristics, with many fruit trees dropping leaves weeks ahead of
schedule. Despite earlier optimism, the cold offshore water temps never recovered
in time to bring fishing back to normal, and despite a great 3 week period
for Stripers in late June/early July, the year will be noted as a
moderate-to-poor year overall, and especially poor after the mid-July time-frame.
SPECIAL SOLAR NOTE: Another intense Solar period occurred during the
last two weeks of the month, with 3 X Class flares and several strong 'M'
class flares creating high geomagnetic activity. These flares were noteworthy
due to their geoeffective positions and high impact to Earth.
MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for OCT. 2001
NAME: HOME CITY: Pacifica STATE: Ca ELEV: 540' LAT: 37.36'N LONG: 122.27'W
TEMPERATURE (°F), RAIN (in), WIND SPEED (mph)
HEAT COOL AVG
MEAN DEG DEG WIND DOM
DAY TEMP HIGH TIME LOW TIME DAYS DAYS RAIN SPEED HIGH TIME DIR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 63.6 72.8 12:30p 57.4 11:30p 0.0 0.1 0.00 1.5 9.0 11:30a SW
2 59.8 68.2 1:00p 54.9 11:30p 3.5 0.0 0.00 1.3 8.0 12:00p SW
3 60.4 73.3 2:00p 51.8 7:30a 2.4 0.0 0.00 1.3 9.0 12:00p WNW
4 58.1 66.0 12:00p 52.4 4:30a 5.8 0.0 0.00 3.8 18.0 3:00p S
5 59.8 63.9 12:30p 57.3 12:00m 4.4 0.0 0.00 4.5 16.0 12:30p S
6 57.5 62.7 3:30p 53.1 11:30p 7.1 0.0 0.00 2.6 14.0 1:00a ESE
7 56.7 62.2 3:00p 52.9 2:00a 7.4 0.0 0.00 2.5 13.0 5:30p S
8 58.0 64.9 1:00p 52.5 12:00m 6.3 0.0 0.00 2.9 13.0 4:00p S
9 58.0 68.8 1:00p 51.0 11:30p 5.1 0.0 0.00 1.5 9.0 12:00p ENE
10 58.1 72.0 3:00p 49.6 3:30a 4.2 0.0 0.00 1.5 8.0 11:00a ESE
11 58.6 64.8 3:00p 53.9 12:30a 5.6 0.0 0.00 2.7 18.0 4:30p SSW
12 67.7 80.2 1:30p 56.1 1:00a 0.0 3.1 0.00 2.6 16.0 5:30a ESE
13 69.1 82.5 2:00p 61.3 12:30a 0.0 6.9 0.00 1.9 15.0 11:00a ESE
14 72.7 86.8 2:30p 61.4 1:00a 0.0 9.1 0.00 2.3 19.0 11:00a SW
15 66.1 78.8 2:30p 54.0 12:00m 0.0 1.4 0.00 1.5 13.0 3:00p ENE
16 58.1 66.9 11:30a 52.2 3:00a 5.4 0.0 0.00 2.1 13.0 3:00p SSW
17 59.4 66.8 1:30p 52.9 12:00m 5.1 0.0 0.00 2.8 16.0 12:30p SSW
18 57.7 66.2 2:30p 52.1 3:30a 5.9 0.0 0.00 1.4 10.0 10:30a NE
19 56.6 73.2 1:00p 47.0 6:30a 4.9 0.0 0.00 0.8 11.0 1:00p SSW
20 54.3 60.4 1:30p 48.9 7:00a 10.3 0.0 0.00 1.9 11.0 8:00p ESE
21 53.6 55.9 12:30p 52.3 7:30a 10.9 0.0 0.00 3.4 14.0 12:00p SSW
22 56.7 65.2 12:30p 48.9 2:30a 8.0 0.0 0.00 2.3 18.0 7:30p SE
23 57.0 64.1 1:30p 50.6 12:00m 7.7 0.0 0.00 2.5 15.0 9:30a SSE
24 59.0 72.5 11:30a 50.5 12:30a 3.5 0.0 0.00 2.1 23.0 10:30a S
25 65.1 77.6 2:00p 53.0 12:00m 0.0 0.3 0.00 2.5 17.0 11:00a N
26 55.0 65.1 1:30p 47.4 7:30a 8.8 0.0 0.00 1.5 11.0 5:00p S
27 58.9 64.0 12:00p 54.5 12:30a 5.8 0.0 0.00 2.1 16.0 12:30p S
28 59.9 67.2 12:30p 54.3 3:00a 4.3 0.0 0.00 1.2 11.0 4:30p S
29 62.1 65.8 12:00p 59.8 12:30a 2.2 0.0 0.00 3.3 19.0 12:30p S
30 59.1 61.7 1:30a 55.9 11:00p 6.2 0.0 0.66 6.3 32.0 10:30a S
31 55.9 63.8 1:00p 51.0 12:00m 7.6 0.0 0.00 1.3 10.0 10:30a SSW
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
59.8 86.8 14 47.0 19 148.4 21.0 0.66 2.3 32.0 30 S
Max >= 90.0: 0
Max <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 0.0: 0
Max Rain: 0.66 ON 10/30/01
Days of Rain: 1 (>.01 in) 1 (>.1 in) 0 (>1 in)
Heat Base: 65.0 Cool Base: 65.0 Method: (High + Low) / 2