Dry Iowa October wraps up

One of Iowa's weather experts says October was a lot different than a year ago.

October 2010 ended warm and dry. October 2009 was cold and wet.

The Des Moines Register says state climatologist Harry Hillaker says last month finished with a statewide average temperature of 54.1 degrees, making it the 36th-warmest October in 138 years of record keeping. It was the 15th driest October, with less than an inch of rain.

Hillaker says October 2009 was the third-coldest October on record, with an average temperature of 44.8 degrees. Precipitation was 6.42 inches, tying for the wettest October with October 1881.

Hillaker says it looked like 2010 might be Iowa's wettest year on record, but a dry October means that's not likely to happen. The wettest year continues to be 1993.