THUNDER BAY — Most residents of Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario likely are feeling glad to see October in the rear-view mirror.
They spent much of the month bundling up and keeping an umbrella handy.
"Wet and cold it was indeed," was Environment Canada meteorologist Peter Kimbell's compact description of October 2018.
According to data Kimbell provided Wednesday afternoon, the region suffered through significantly lower temperatures and notably more rain than normal for this time of year.
Thunder Bay's average temperature was 3.7 C compared with the long-term October average of 5.0 C.
The average daily high temperature was 7.8 C, in contrast to the usual maximum of 10 C.
Precipitation in the city was 70 per cent greater than normal, totalling 107 millimetres compared with the long-term average of just 63 millimetres.
Looking into November, Kimbell said it's always "tricky" to forecast beyond a week to 10 days, but current models show temperatures at the Lakehead taking a big dip toward Remembrance Day.
In the week to come, the daily high should hover around or just below the normal of 5 C, but if the early outlook holds true, by Wednesday "the bottom drops out," he said.
"Particularly as we head toward the weekend of Remembrance Day, it looks like it could be the first blast of really cold weather for the northwest."
