8 Weather Records Set In October at the SROC

Tom Hoverstad is a Scientist at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca (SROC.) Much of Tom's responsibilities are in the area of weed management and herbicide trials. Tom also writes the Weekly Weather and Crop Updates during the growing season and keeps track of the official weather station. They have weather records going back well over 100 years. Early each month I call Tom to talk about the previous month's weather. October 2020 was a month that 8 weather records were set at SROC!

The first two weeks of October 2020 were perfect for harvest and fall tillage. Then the last half of October was miserable and all field operations were put on hold. There was a total of 8 cold weather records set in October 2020 at the SROC. They included night time low temperature, the lowest high temperature of the day and most snow in October at 7.5 inches. The previous October snow total record was 4 inches. October 2020 was the third coldest on record.

The first two weeks of October 2020 were really warm. So, to set all those records and make October 2020 the third coldest on record shows just how cold and miserable the last half of October 2020 was! Tom put it well, it was more like late November with all the cold and plowable snow! The good news was the weather turned really nice when we flipped the calendar to November. Plus, because of the almost perfect growing season the beans were all harvested and the corn was mature and had dried down naturally in the field.