Mild October: Drought lowered Miss. River levels

Mississippi River water levels dropped to record lows in October, impacting grain shipments. This is just one of the impacts of a dry and mild October.

October’s average temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 2.0 degrees above the 20th century average, making it the 18thwarmest October in the 129-year climate record. For the year’s first 10 months, the average temperatures was 1.9 degrees above last century's average and it is on pace to be the 11th warmest year on record.

Precipitation, mainly from rainfall, was slightly below-average nationally. This didn’t help the prolonged drought affecting the length of the Mississippi River Valley from Minnesota to New Orleans.

There have been 25 billion-dollar-plus weather and climate disasters in the year 2023. This is already the most billion-dollar disasters, adjusted for inflation, in U.S. history.

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