Oct. 11, 2015: Grand Island and Hastings Break/Tie Records for the Hottest October Temperature!

Thanks to westerly breezes overspreading the Central Plains ahead of a strong cold front, an unusually warm airmass for mid-October developed on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, resulting in not only daily record high temperatures, but also record high temperatures for the entire month of October!

Although NWS Hastings collects climate and weather information for numerous official NWS observation sites across South Central Nebraska and North Central Kansas, the only sites for which "formal" record statements are issued are Grand Island and Hastings airports. Details for these two primary sites follow below...

Grand Island (Central Nebraska Regional Airport):

On Oct. 11, 2015, the high temperature at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island soared to 97°. This was an incredible 30° warmer than the "normal"/average Oct. 11th high of 67°.

This broke the previous daily record for Oct. 11th of 93° set in 1928.
More significantly, this also set a new October monthly highest temperature record (for any day), eclipsing the previous mark of 96° set on Oct. 5, 1947.
In addition, this marked the latest occurrence of 97°-or-hotter on record during a calendar year, beating the previous latest mark of 97° on Sep. 28, 1953 by nearly two weeks!

Location	High Temp (10-11-15)	Previous Monthly Record
Grand Island (Central Nebraska Regional Airport)	97°	96° on Oct. 5, 1947

October temperature records at Grand Island date back to 1895.

Hastings (Municipal Airport):

On Oct. 11, 2015, high temperature at Hastings Municipal Airport soared to 97°. This was an incredible 30° warmer than the "normal"/average Oct. 11th high of 67°.

This shattered the previous daily record for Oct. 11th of 89° set in both 1940 and 1975.
More significantly, this also TIED the October monthly highest temperature record (for any day), matching the previous mark of 97° set on Oct. 5, 1947.
In addition, this marked the latest occurrence of 97°-or-hotter on record during a calendar year, beating the previous latest mark of 97° on Oct. 5, 1947 by nearly a week!

Location	High Temp (10-11-15)	Previous Monthly Record
Hastings (Municipal Airport)	97°	97° on Oct. 5, 1947

October temperature records at Hastings date back to 1907, and are based on NWS Cooperative Observer reports between 1907-1995, and on the automated ASOS at Hastings Muncipal Airport since 1996.

The image below includes surface analysis maps, the left showing maps from 1:30 p.m. October 5, 1947 (the previous highest October high temp record for Grand Island/Hastings) and the right is from 1 p.m. this afternoon. Note that both record breaking/tying days involved our area being ahead of an approaching cold front in the western Dakotas with a trough axis extending through the area...allowing for more westerly winds to develop and deeper mixing into warmer air aloft.

(*Please Note: All climate data presented here are preliminary and have not undergone final quality control by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Therefore, these data are subject to revision. Final and certified climate data can be accessed at: WWW.NCDC.NOAA.GOV)

This page was composed by the staff at the National Weather Service in Hastings, Nebraska.