October 8th heat dominates the eastern United States

A tale of two seasons couldn't have been more evident so far this month than what we've seen to date. The main jetstream divided two opposite air masses with a trough in the west bringing early autumn snows to parts of eastern Idaho and the high elevations of northern California while heat typical of July conditions baked the eastern half of the nation, most notably the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. A total of 73 weather reporting sites had records tied or broken on Sunday while 64 also had the same for Monday.

How extraordinary was this warm weather event in the east? I've experienced temperatures in the 70s in my area for a December day, but Monday's high temperature of 90° at Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit was a record for October 8th and was the latest 90° day ever recorded there. Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington recorded back-to-back 90°+ temperatures for Monday and Tuesday. By reaching 89° on Monday, Philadelphia International Airport wiped away an October 8th record that stood 120 years! Simply remarkable.

In Central Pennsylvania, new records were set in Harrisburg and Williamsport on Monday, but were well short of the highest temperature recorded in October for their respective locations as mentioned in their National Weather Service forecast office news release. Both locations reached 89° on Tuesday and were new records for October 9th.

But in Bluefield, West Virginia, a new October record was set for the second straight day with a high temperature of 88° on Monday, eclipsing the old mark of 86° that was reached just the day before.

Here is a select list of high temperatures across the northeastern United States for Monday. First, I have a combined list from the National Weather Service and Weather Underground reporting sites in the New York City metropolitan area as compiled by Kevin K at TWC Classics. The Weather Underground reporting sites do not always provide almanac information that would list the old records (they're in parentheses), so they're left off this list when I show their high temperatures.

Locations in New York City are shown in boldface text.
Locations that either tied or broke records are shown in red text.

Somerset, New Jersey… 92°
East Brunswick, New Jersey… 91°
Edison, New Jersey… 91°
Fair Lawn, New Jersey… 90°
Hawthorne, New York… 90°
New Brunswick, New Jersey… 90°
Kennedy Int'l Airport… 90° (75° in 1990 and 1949)
Newton, New Jersey… 90°
North Arlington, New Jersey… 90°
Somerville, New Jersey… 90° (86° in 1931)
Teterboro, New Jersey… 90° (82° in 2004)
Trenton, New Jersey… 90° (84° in 1894)
Belleville, New Jersey… 89°
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 89° (78° in 1990)
Greenwich, Connecticut… 89°
Harrison, New Jersey… 89°
Hawthorne, New Jersey… 89°
Montgomery, New York… 89°
Newark, New Jersey… 89° (85° in 1931)
Brooklyn, New York… 89°
LaGuardia Airport… 89° (82° in 1990)
Paterson, New Jersey… 89°
West Point, New York… 89° (83° in 1931)
Whippany, New Jersey… 89°
Andover, New Jersey… 88°
Islip, New York… 88° (77° in 1990)
Jersey City, New Jersey… 88°
Long Beach, New York… 88°
Newburgh, New York… 88° (84° in 1990)
New City, New York… 88°
Norwalk, Connecticut… 88°
Ringwood, New Jersey… 88°
Shirley, New York… 88°
Sussex, New Jersey… 88° (86° in 1963)
Union, New Jersey… 88°
Wayne, New Jersey… 88°
Blairstown, New Jersey… 87°
Farmingdale, New York… 87° (84° in 1963)
Central Park… 87° (86° in 1931)
Oakland, New Jersey… 87°
Oceanside, New York… 87°
Parsippany, New Jersey… 87°
Ramsey, New Jersey… 87°
White Plains, New York… 87° (82° in 1963)
Babylon, New York… 86°
Charlottesburg, New Jersey… 86° (tied with 1963)
East Haven, Connecticut… 86°
Hackettstown, New Jersey… 86°
Hempstead, New York… 86°
Port Jervis, New York… 86° (84° in 1943)
Centerport, New York… 85°
Danbury, Connecticut… 85° (84° in 1963)
New Fairfield, Connecticut… 85°
New Haven, Connecticut… 84° (tied with 1990)
Bridgehampton, New York… 83° (80° in 1931)
High Point, New Jersey… 82°
Carmel, New York… 81°
Westhampton Beach, New York… 81° (75° in 1997)
Montauk, New York… 80°

Among those high temperatures listed above, here are those that either tied or set new records for the month of October. The old records are listed in parentheses.

Kennedy Int'l Airport… 90° (88° on October 6, 1997)
Teterboro, New Jersey… 90° (tied with October 5, 2007)
Bridgeport, Connecticut… 89° (86° on October 6, 1997)
LaGuardia Airport… 89° (tied with October 10, 1949)
Islip, New York… 88° (86° on October 7, 1997)
Farmingdale, New York… 87° (86° on October 6, 1997)
White Plains, New York… 87° (tied with October 10, 1949 and October 6, 1959)

Since this heat spell has gripped large part of the country, I'm providing some interesting temperature statistics for the entire northeastern quadrant of the United States (includes Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky). I've also thrown in a few locations from coastal New England and the extreme northern tier to show you the drastic difference between there (much cooler peak readings) and the major metropolitan areas to the south and west. This list only consists of National Weather Service reporting stations.

Charleston, West Virginia… 93° (92° in 1931)
Danville, Virginia… 93° (88° in 1962)
Huntington, West Virginia… 93° (92° in 1939)
Louisville, Kentucky… 93° (91° in 1939)
Bowling Green, Kentucky… 92°
Evansville, Indiana… 92° (90° in 1939)
Parkersburg, West Virginia… 92° (88° in 1939)
Washington (Dulles Int'l Arpt.)… 92° (85° in 1982)
Baltimore-Washington Int'l Airport… 91° (88° in 1931)
Cincinnati Int'l Airport… 91° (tied with 1939)
Indianapolis… 91°
Lexington, Kentucky… 91° (90° in 1939)
Paducah, Kentucky… 91°
Roanoke, Virginia… 91° (86° in 1962)
Washington (Reagan Nat'l Arpt.)… 91° (88° in 1931)
Allentown, Pennsylvania… 90° (81° in 1943)
Alpena, Michigan... 90° (82° in 2003)
Charlottesville, Virginia… 90° (tied with 1916)
Columbus, Ohio… 90° (89° in 1939)
Detroit (Coleman A. Young Int'l Arpt.)… 90° (89° in 1939)
Lynchburg, Virginia… 90° (89° in 1941)
Williamsport, Pennsylvania… 90° (81° in 1949)
Atlantic City, New Jersey... 89° (83° in 1990)
Fort Wayne, Indiana… 89° (tied with 1939)
Jackson, Kentucky... 89° (82° in 1997)
Philadelphia… 89° (84° in 1887)
Poughkeepsie, New York... 89°
Reading, Pennsylvania… 89° (82° in 1990)
Richmond, Virginia… 89°
Toledo, Ohio… 89°
Bluefield, West Virginia… 88° (82° in 1997)
Cleveland… 88° (tied with 1939)
Dayton, Ohio… 88° (87° in 1939)
Flint, Michigan... 88° (84° in 1949)
Grand Rapids, Michigan... 88° (83° in 1949)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania… 88° (85° in 1916)
South Bend, Indiana… 88° (85° in 1949)
Wilmington, Delaware... 88° (tied with 1941)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Int'l Airport… 87° (78° in 1990)
Blacksburg, Virginia… 87° (80° in 1997)
Georgetown, Delaware... 87°
Pittsburgh… 87° (86° in 1916)
Youngstown, Ohio… 87° (84° in 1949)
Beckley, West Virginia… 86° (81° in 1997)
Mansfield, Ohio… 86° (79° in 1997)
North Canton, Ohio (Akron-Canton Regional Airport)… 86°
Salisbury, Maryland… 85°
Erie, Pennsylvania… 84° (81° in 1916)
Norfolk, Virginia… 84°
Windsor Locks, Connecticut… 84°
Elkins, West Virginia… 83°
Marquette, Michigan... 83° (81° in 2003)
Rochester, New York... 83°
Binghamton, New York... 82° (76° in 1993)
Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania… 82° (79° in 1949)
Syracuse, New York... 80° (tied with 1993)
Buffalo… 79°
Albany, New York... 75°
Providence, Rhode Island… 75°
Worcester, Massachusetts… 70°
Watertown, New York... 71°
Glens Falls, New York... 64°
Boston… 59°
Houlton, Maine… 59°
Caribou, Maine… 58°
Concord, New Hampshire… 58°
Burlington, Vermont… 57°
Millinocket, Maine… 57°
Portland, Maine… 53°
Bangor, Maine… 50°

The unseasonably warm temperatures weren't just confined to the United States on Monday. North of the border in southern Canada, Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto had its highest temperature recorded at 89° while in Hamilton it peaked at 86°.

But the true autumn weather is moving into the northeast as we speak. A backdoor cold front that advanced southwest from New England brought temperatures down to the 60s by late afternoon yesterday in New York City while Philadelphia remained in the 80s. The anticipated cold front that moved through from the west this morning has brought in the cooler air moving down from the northwest. In Minneapolis, the heart of the cold Canadian air arrived yesterday with peak readings only in the low 50s thanks to a trough settling into the northern tier of the country. As Mark Mancuso of The Weather Channel explains, the northeastern United States will get a taste of that by Friday and into Saturday as high temperatures may not reach 60°, more typical of November weather.