If it has felt colder than usual over the past month, well that's because it has been.
For the month of October, 21 out of 31 days were below the normal daily temperature. (21 days because Halloween today will be another below normal day).
The average daily departure from normal was -3.8 degrees. All in all a cold month for sure.
But will these cold temperatures stick around???
Unfortunately, that looks to be the case. The Climate Prediction Center is calling for a greater than 90% chance for colder than average temperatures for the upper Midwest between November 5th- and 9th. And with our forecasted temperatures over the next week never breaking 50 degrees, (for late October and early November, the normal daily high temperatures are in the mid to low 50s). In other words, it will remain quite cold next week. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
These below average temperatures are not pervasive across the entire globe however. When looking at the current temperature anomalies, the central United States is the only part of the on the planet with significantly warmer temperatures. This data come from NASA. And was plotted by the University of Maine.
From a meteorologist's perspective, I am expecting a return to normal or even slightly above average temperatures sometime Mid-Late November.