Salt Lake City breaks all-time record with warmest October to date
Nov 1, 2024, 1:34 PM
Fall colors take from Deer Creek Overlook and Cascade Springs area. (Courtesy Michael Denaley)
(Courtesy Michael Denaley)
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City officially made history with the warmest October on record.
According to KSL Meteorologist Matthew Johnson, the first 16 days of the month in 2024 were either at 80 degrees or above. The average temperature for the entire month? It topped previous records by nearly two degrees, landing at a final 62.4 degrees. The past record was held by the year 2015 when the October average was recorded at 60.5 degrees. Before that, the record was 60 degrees in 1921.
OCTOBER REVIEW: October 2024 will go down as the warmest since records began. You’ll see in the data that 15 of the 31 days were at or above 80 degrees. Absolutely unprecedented warmth for the month! #utwx pic.twitter.com/6tyB4F7oDQ
— Matthew Johnson (@KSL_Matt) November 1, 2024
Besides Salt Lake City, many other cities also broke all-time records, Johnson said:
- St. George — 69.9 degrees
- Provo — 61 degrees
- Fillmore — 60.7 degrees
- Escalante — 60.6 degrees
- Price — 58.6 degrees
- Lehi — 57.9 degrees
- Manti — 56.6 degrees
- Park City — 52.9 degrees
- Alta — 47.1 degrees
Meteorologists pull these totals by taking both the highs and lows recorded for all days of the month and averaging them out, according to Johnson.
“This does not have any real correlation to what kind of winter we will have this year, though many might think that,” he said. “In fact, this is not scientifically backed, but my experience has been that many times when we have a slow warm start to the fall and winter season … we can really pick up the slack and have some of our best.”
Johnson pointed out the 2022-2023 winter season was just that, a record-breaking winter season that had the most recorded snowpack in Utah since 1952. It was preceded by a slow October and early November when “the fire hose turned on and we ended up having our snowiest year on record in the mountains,” he said.
“It doesn’t dismiss the fact that we just saw an excessively warmer October and we are hoping to have a more normal November,” Johnson said. “In fact, models are indicating that we could see just that.”
