What ever happened to sunny October?

WEATHER TIDBITS

I’m not one to complain, but gee whiz, what an ugly October!

October was actually, at one time (pre ‘98), acclaimed as Laguna’s

sunniest month! Hard to imagine. At least the last five Octobers

(including this one) gives testimony to declare October now

Junetober!

However, there is a very bright side. With the persistent (14 days

now) thick marine layer, comes a southwest wind, high humidities and

below-normal temps well into the coastal plain. These conditions are

the exact opposite of “ripe for fires.” This is a good thing. Let us

get a drencher or two under our belt before we deal with the eventual

northeast howlers. That doesn’t always pan out. Hopefully we’ll roll

a seven this time.

Looking back, there was quite a run of hot Octobers in the late

‘50s, early ‘60s and ‘80s particularly. 1958 and ’71 are the hottest

the last half century.

The mercury exceeded 100 degrees for five days in October, 1958

and eclipsed 90 degrees a whopping 15 days that month. It turned out

to be the third-driest season in Laguna. It produced only 5.25

inches.

And the Bel Air fires of October -- November, 1961 caused the most

dollar damage until the 1993 Laguna fire. So we’re on Red Alert.

Hurricane season’s game is pretty much over in both oceans. Clock

is running out. We scored pretty good this season, getting a total of

six swells. Doug, Elida, Fausto, Genevieve and Hernan and Jerome.

Fausto and Hernan were the mackers hitting in warmer water late

August and early September, lighting up every south spot.

The Atlantic and Caribbean actually produced more storms than the

Eastern Pacific this time around. We got up to K on our side they

reached M on their side. Their waters are still quite warm with help

from the Gulf Stream. Hatteras is the same latitude north as Santa

Cruz, yet Santa Cruz is 56 degrees and Hatteras is 73 degrees,

that’ll change soon enough.

Well, it’s Tuesday, Junetober 22, I swear, there has to be a

machine out there somewhere pumping this gloom into our lives. Normal

hi/lo for October here is 76/58. Heck, we have only passed the

normally easily attainable 75 degree mark twice this whole month! Our

average up to the 22nd: 68-53 degrees. It used to be we’d get our

dose of northeast Santana’s in late September through early November,

then rain from mid November to April.

Last year our first Santana wasn’t till Christmas eve, the year

before that, Christmas day and the year before that, Dec. 20.

So far, this is the cloudiest, coolest October on record. And the

water temp is barely 62 degrees. Back in ’97 it was still 72 degrees

on this day. So we’re into our fourth year now without a real heat

wave. El Nino? More like El Nada!

Stay tuned!

* DENNIS McTIGHE is a Laguna Beach resident. He earned a

bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from UCSD and was a USAF

weatherman at Hickman AFB, Hawaii.