I've assembled as many interesting weather facts as I can to make this world weather trivia page. Obviously I didn't know all these facts off the top of my head. Some I discovered myself, but the I had to hunt around for the vast majority. The internet was, needless to say, a particulary handy source, especially regarding American weather. Another good source proved to be old weather periodicals, such as The Meteorological Magazine  which seemed much more intent on facts and figures than research. If you scroll to the bottom of this page you'll find a list of sources. Incidentally, if any of these facts turn out to be wrong, or records quoted get broken please  and let me know. Thanks.

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Oct 2
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Oct 3
1912 The USA longest dry spell on record begins at Bagdad, California where it doesn’t rain again for until 9 November 1914, a period of 767 days. 7
1988 Around 200mm rain falls in 3 hours at Nimes in southern France causing floods and mudslides which go on to kill 8 people. 7

Oct 4
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Oct 5
1917 Highs in Sentinel, Arizona reach 47C, the hottest October day on record in the USA. 19

Oct 6
1836 An early season snowstorm over New York and Pennsylvania dumps 28cm snow at Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania and 66cm at Auburn, New York. Snow had already fallen earlier in the season and on the 12th it would snow in this area again. 7
1967 Canada registers its record maximum 24 hour precipitation as 489.2mm rain falls at Ucluelet Brynnor Mines in western British Columbia.
1981 The Netherland's worst tornado disaster. 17 people are killed as a plane flying from Rotterdam to Eindhoven flies into the circulation of a tornado and crashes near the western Dutch town of Moerdijk. 21

Oct 7
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Oct 8
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Oct 9
1903 New York registers its record maximum 24 hour precipitation as 283.7mm rain falls at Central Park, New York City. 11

Oct 10
1804 An offshore hurricane induces northerly gales over New England. These gales bring with them some heavy snow, including 90cm at the crest of the Green Mountains and 30cm snow over the Berkshire Mountains at Goshen, Connecticut. 7
1921 The Netherlands records its hottest October day on record when highs reach 30.1C in Sittard.

Oct 11
1737 As many as 300,000 people are killed when a cyclone and storm surge hit the Hooghly River, Calcutta, India. 7
1846 On the 10th and 11th a hurricane strikes Cuba sinking, damaging or wrecking 92 ships in Havana harbour. 7
1973 Oklahoma registers its record maximum 24 hour precipitation as 398.3mm rain falls at Enid. 11

Oct 12
1982 Alaska registers its record maximum 24 hour precipitation as 386.1mm rain falls at Angoon. 11

Oct 13
1975 Widespread snow falls across the Netherlands. This is the earliest in the autumn that snow is observed here in the 20th century.

Oct 14
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Oct 15
1954 The remnants of Hurricane Hazel affect southern Ontario killing 83 people and dumping up to 178mm rain in some places and 121mm rain in 24 hours in Toronto. Before hitting Canada Hazel killed more than 1,000 people on Haiti on the 12th. 7
1987 In the evening and night of 15/16 October 'The Great Storm' affected much of the southern half of England. Among the peak gusts were Shoreham, Sussex 180.8km/h, Langdon Bay, Kent 172.8km/h, Sheerness, Kent 171.2km/h, Ashford, Kent 169.6km/h and London Weather Centre, central London, 150.4km/h. This storm is one of the worst, if not the worst, of the 20th century in southeastern England and certainly the most infamous. 16

Oct 16
1780 Between the 10th and 16th the western hemisphere’s deadliest hurricane on record lingers over the Caribbean killing 22,000 people on Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados. 7
1913 San Francisco’s joint hottest October day on record; highs reach 38.3C. 7

Oct 17
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Oct 18
1930 Early season lake-effect snow on the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Just south of Buffalo 122cm snow falls. 19

Oct 19
1989 Rain over Ohio turned to snow leaving 10-15cm snow over southwestern and western parts, 5-10cm in central and northwestern parts and at least a covering of snow in most other parts. The 12-13cm snow that fell in Drayton made it the snowiest October day on record here. 31

Oct 20
1956 The warmest day on record on Antarctica; temperatures reach 14.0C at Esparanza at 63 degrees south.

Oct 21
1996 Maine registers its record maximum 24 hour precipitation as 338.3mm rain falls at Portland. 11

Oct 22
1965 During a heat wave over southern Calfornia temperatures top 38C in Los Angeles and reach 40C at San Diego. 19

Oct 23
1093 One of the two strongest tornadoes on record in the UK occurs at St. Mary le Bow in London. Wind speeds are estimated to have been in the 213-240mph range.

Oct 24
2003 Widespread snow across most of the Netherlands. Although the snow is short-lived several centimetres of snow lie on the ground for a time in some parts. Places affected by the snow include Tilburg, Arnhem, Utrecht, Enschede, Groningen, Hoogeveen and Lelystad. The far west of the country tended to avoid the wintry weather, but sleet did affect Rotterdam for a time.

Oct 25
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Oct 26
1919 Lows in Bismarck, North Dakota drop to -23C, the record October low here and the earliest subzero low on record here. 7

Oct 27
1913 One of Britain's worst tornado disasters; six people are killed when a tornado struck Edwardsville, near Cardiff.

Oct 28
1982 Softball sized hail and 4 hours of heavy rain damage vehicles and buildings and kills 11 at Al-Khafqi, Saudi Arabia. 7
1991 Typhoon Thelma hits the Philippines killing at least 6,000 people, 3,000 of them after a storm surge hit Leyte Island. 7
2003 Hurricane Peter dissipated making the 2003 Atlantic Hurricane season the longest on record. The season began with the formation of Tropical Storm Ana on April 21st.

Oct 29
1942 29 are killed when a tornado strikes Berryville, Arkansas. 19

Oct 30
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Oct 31
1876 100,000 people drown at the Ganges Delta, Bangladesh when a storm surge hits. 7
1968 Northern Ireland's wettest day on record; 158.9mm rain falls in 24 hours at Tollymore Forest, Co. Down. 3

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Dan Suri, last updated 6 September 2004