With a monthly high of 79° on the 1st, October was a warm month from its beginning. By months end temperatures were + 3.7° from the normal.

The variety show that is autumn weather produced a monthly low of 28° on Sunday the 24th.

While warmth was above normal, precipitation wasn't. Muskegon received 1.84 inches of wet stuff opposed to a norm of 2.8 inches.

Winds averaged 8.3 knots, down from 9.8 in 1999. Windiest day was the 1st (17.3), lowest average winds speed was 2.1 on Tuesday the 17th.

A further look at wind direction shows that winds from the compass' cardinal points were up. In October there was a north wind 19.4% ( normal 5.3%) East Wind 16.1% (normal 6.4%), South wind 19.4% (normal 7.4%), West wind 12.9% (normal 5.9).

Normally in October there are frequent east winds. There were few of these in October including no South Easterly winds.

The increase in Southerly winds and the weather they bring were a prime factor in Muskegon's October warmth.

As the table above shows, the Lake Michigan Water level is down in all facets. The extra warmth combined with less than normal precipitation will not help the levels increase.