Traverse City experienced its third warmest October on record this year, according to the National Weather Service Gaylord office, with an average temperature of 57 degrees. That is 7.1 degrees above the normal average of 49.9 degrees for the area.

NWS said all climate sites it measured across northern Michigan recorded "above normal temperatures for the month of October," with a range of 7.1 to 9.2 degrees above normal. Sault Sainte Marie recorded its warmest October (55.3 degrees average) since records began back in 1888, beating its previous 1900 record of 54.5 degrees average. All other sites were in the top five for their warmest Octobers on record.

With the northern stream jet set up to the north of northern Michigan frequently in October, "most system storms tracked north of us," according to NWS. "This also resulted in the lack of colder northwesterly winds, which in turn, did not produce as much lake effect precipitation that usually occurs more often in the month of October. The favored lake effect locations of Sault Sainte Marie, Gaylord, and Traverse City, were all below normal for the month, while Houghton Lake and Alpena were near normal."

Traverse City only experienced 2.74 inches of precipitation in October, a 1.34 inch drop from the normal average of 4.08 inches. The city normally experiences 0.1 inches of snowfall in the month, but did not have any snow this year.