October Was World's Third Warmest, Continuing This Year's Trend

Once again it was hard to find many cool spots around
the world. It was the third hottest October on record
according to NOAA. 

The National Centers for Environmental Information is finally catching up after this fall's 43-day government shutdown and we now have the global and national climate data for October, 

It turns out that, according to the report released on Tuesday, once again last month, we had the third warmest October on record. If that sounds familiar, it's because it is. 

Says Yale Climate Connections:

"This is the fifth time in a  row that a calendar month has placed third for all time warmth behind 2023 and  2024. While 'third warmest' may not sound eye-poppingly impressive, this comes on the heels of an astoundingly warm couple of years that were fueled by a strong El Nino dent atop long-term human-caused warming."

If you are under the age of 50, you've never seen an October in which the world saw a cooler than average global October. 

Very much like September, though October was the third warmest, it was much balmier than the fourth warmest, according to NCEI.  Together, 2023 through 2025 has been ridiculously warm, compared to past centuries.  

The warmest places, relative to average, were in the Arctic and Antarctica, northern North America, southeast Asia, the northern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. In fact North America as a whole had their warmest October on reared. So did the Arctic and Antarctica. Antarctica's record was set by a wide margin.  

As usual, it was hard to find places in the world that were cooler than the 20th century average. An areas around Mongolia and south-central Russia were on the chilly side. Small pockets in southern Africa and South America also came in on the cool side. It looks like a remote spot in the far southern Pacific Ocean were chilly, too. 

So far, January through October, 2025 is running as second warmest on record says NCEI, mostly because of a hotter start to the year. Only 2024 was hotter.  I have my suspicions that this year might end up as third hottest, behind 2023 and 2024, but of course, who knows for sure. 

The bottom line is it's been insanely warm the last three years.

UNITED STATES

As for the United States, the Lower 48 had its eighth warmest out of the past 131 years, NCEI said. The warmest area was through pretty much the entirety of the Great Plains. Most states there had one of their top 10 warmest Octobers on record. 

Northern and eastern New England had a much warmer than average October, too. That was mostly driven by an early month heat wave that shattered previous records for the highest October temperatures on record. 

No region in the United States was particularly cool, though the Pacific Northwest and pockets of the southeast were slightly on chilly side for October. 

Precipitation was just slightly above average for the month in the United States. The northwestern Plains were on the wet side, but overall, rainfall wasn't all that extreme across the nation.