Hot. That's the best way to describe October's weather in San Diego County. And the numbers prove it.
The month of October was 7.7 degrees above average when combining the daily high and low temperatures. The mean average temperature at Lindbergh Field during the 31-day stretch was 74.4 degrees.
“That’s incredible,” said Alex Tardy, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“You’re probably not going to notice 1, 2, 3 degrees. But when you start talking 4 to 5 degrees, you notice it in many ways — electricity bills, comfort level,” Tardy said. “When you start talking about 7 degrees above normal — that’s record territory and that’s exactly what we’re dealing with here.”
He said the warm weather was courtesy of an exceptionally warm ocean, where temperatures continue to hover in the low 70s off San Diego’s coast — nearly 5 degrees above average.
“When you raise the ocean temperature, you’re basically reducing the cooling effect of the Pacific Ocean — or our air conditioner,” Tardy explained.
November is expected to begin ushering in some big changes, like this week when cooler temperatures and light rain showers are forecast.
Tardy said El Niño-related storms also are expected to arrive later this month.
“What we expect to see is a series of storms or a pattern shift,” he said. “When we see that, then we can say, 'Oh, OK. Our Pacific jet stream is reacting and starting to merge with all that warm air and warm ocean temperatures near the equator.’”
