Usually driest month, Oct. saw 5 inches of rain

By Andy Mead - amead@herald-leader.com

October is the driest month.

Except for this year, when it was sodden.

In Lexington, we get 2.7 inches of rain in an average October. This year's total: 5.77 inches — more than two Octobers worth packed into one.

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Some places in the state — along the Bluegrass Parkway and west of Interstate 65 —got more than 10 inches of rain, or 3 1/2 Octobers worth.

It was Lexington's eighth-wettest October since record keeping began, and added to what is so far the ninth-wettest year.

Lexington usually gets just under 46 inches of rain in a year. So far this year: with two months still to go, the total has surpassed 49 inches.

All but two months of the year, February and March, have brought above-average rainfall.

The rain has been good for farmers. Kentucky corn production could be 2 percent higher than the 2004 record; soybeans could be 3 percent above the 2006 record; and burley tobacco could be up 10 percent from last year.

All of this also has meant lower water bills, a bumper year for some backyard vegetables and, unfortunately, a fungus that thrives in cool, wet weather and attacks tomatoes and potatoes.

It may have contributed to our great fall leaf color. It made us curse continued days of clouds and rain and rejoice in seeing the sun.

October also was a chilly month. The average Lexington temperature was 3.5 degrees below normal. On Oct. 17, when the thermometer only managed to make it up to 47 degrees, we set a record for the coldest high for the date.

The forecast this week: A week of sun and clouds, with the phrase "chance of sprinkles" intruding on Wednesday.