October was Idaho’s coldest on record

Last month’s chilly weather broke records for Idaho, coming in as the coldest October since the state began recording the average temperatures in 1895.

Boise State Public Radio reports the average temperature for October 2019 was 36.7 degrees Fahrenheit. That compares to the mean temperature of 44.1 degrees Fahrenheit for roughly the past century.

Steve Parker with the National Weather Service in Boise said a jet stream in Alaska moving south caused the cold temperatures across Idaho and much of the northwestern U.S.

He says it’s a typical weather pattern, but it just arrived unusually early.

Parker says that doesn’t necessarily mean an extra cold winter. Temperatures have been above average so far this November.