Apart from the remnants of hurricane Gonzalo passing over the country on the 21st, creating a record wind gust for October, the month was decidedly average. Temperatures were slightly above average and rainfall amounts were exactly on average for the month.
The maximum temperature in October was 19.1°C at 16:10 on the 3rd, with the minimum temperature being 2.8°C on the 12th at 08:02. This minimum is the lowest temperature since May 3rd when the thermometer fell to 0.6°C. This was also the first ground frost of the 2014/15 season, and the earliest a ground frost has been recorded here. The previous earliest ground frost was October 14th 2012. On the 6th, the maximum temperature was 10.9°C, the lowest daily maximum since April 25th. On October 18th, the minimum temperature of 14.7°C, equalled the least cold October day record set on October 3rd 2011. The final day of the month saw the mercury rise to 19.0°C, easily beating the record for the 31st of 15.8°C set in 2011. The average temperature for the month was 11.5°C, equal to 2013 and 0.8°C higher than the mean. As 2013, October was the dullest month of the year with only 46.8 hours of sunshine. The average dew point was 9.8°C and the maximum heat index was 19.1°C at 16:10 on the 3rd.
Rainfall was exactly the same as the monthly average at 55.2 millimetres. There were 24 rain days with the wettest being the 13th when 12.4 millimetres was recorded. This was the second wettest day of 2014, well behind July 19th when 21.6 millimetres was recorded. So far this year there has been 450 millimetres of rainfall, much the same as expected at the end of October. Evapotranspiration for the month was 30.6 millimetres, 2.7 millimetres more than 2013.
Apart from the passage of Gonzalo, winds in October were average. The highest wind speed was 23.0 mph from 315° (NW) on the 21st at 12:23. The highest gust speed of 40.3 mph from 315° (NW) also on the 21st at 15:41 was an October record, but only the fourth windiest day of 2014. The average wind speed was 4.5 mph and the average gust speed was 7.4 mph. The total wind run was 3176.3 miles.
The highest barometric pressure was 1029.8 millibarrs on the 2nd at 09:46, with the lowest pressure being 988.4 millibars at 16:17 on the 8th. The average pressure was 1009.8 millibars and the average humidity was 90%.
Weather Underground graph for October 2014.