News Photo by Julie Goldberg It was a calm day at the shore of Lake Huron in Alpena on Thursday.

ALPENA — The month of October was a mixture of lots of rain, a couple days of hot weather, and days with cooler temperatures for Alpena.

Alpena got 4.52 inches of rain, surpassing the normal value of 2.61 inches.

Michael Boguth, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said the 4.52 inches of rainfall didn’t qualify October for the top-10 wettest October for Alpena, but he said it was a very wet month.

Last year, Alpena received 5.32 inches of rain and Boguth said that was the third-wettest October on record. He said the past two Octobers have been unusually wet.

“October is usually a month of transition and known for being extreme,” Boguth said. “October is hardly ever normal.”

The highest temperature last month was 86 degrees on Oct. 9, with the lowest temperature being 22 degrees on Oct. 25.

Boguth said the 86 degrees on Oct. 9 broke the previous record of 83 degrees set for that day in 2011. He said warmer weather is usually common for the beginning of October, before the transition to cooler temperatures.

“Around day 10 to 14 is when we transition to fall,” Boguth said.

The second half of October saw temperatures in the 40s and low 50s. Boguth said that is a few degrees below normal October temperatures.

“The 40s are not uncommon for October,” he said. “Starting on the 11th and 12th, the area got hit with a cooler pattern. It’s been about 20 days where we’ve had below-normal temperatures.”

Alpena got 0.2 inches of snowfall in October.

Looking toward the weekend, Boguth said Saturday will be dry, but Sunday will have some rain later in the day.

“We’ll have some periods of wet weather next week and it will be cooler,” he said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.

October weather, by the numbers

Average maximum temp: 55 degrees

Average minimum temp: 37 degrees

Precipitation: 4.52 inches

Snowfall: 0.2 inches

Source: National Weather Service