What a nice month it’s been: slightly warmer than normal, not much rain, and gorgeous and golden yellow fall foliage.
The month has stayed slightly warm throughout with an average temperature of 10.0 degrees Celsius. Usually, the average temperature declines as October progresses, but due to a spectacular last few days of the month, when the nighttime low was higher than the usual daytime high, the month will be officially warmer than usual. The normal average temperature for October is 9.4 C.
Precipitation continued to be on the slim side with only 9.4 millimetres of rain in the last week and a total of 40.6 mm for the month, which is only 50 per cent of normal. Farmers haven’t been complaining, as the lack of rain has made field work a lot easier and the grain corn harvesting is well underway. La Terre de chez nous, the weekly French-language farm newspaper, reported exceptional corn yields in the southwest of Quebec ranging from 15-18 tonnes per hectare (6-7 tonnes or 240-280 bushels per acre) with moisture levels of 23-24 per cent coming off the field.
