From NWS
1999: An unusually early winter precipitation event occurred as rain changed over to snow in far northwestern Iowa, with Ocheyedan and Sibley each measuring 3.0 inches of snowfall. This was the highest snow accumulation recorded in Iowa so early in the season since the snow of September 30, 1961.

1897: Unseasonably hot weather brought the temperature all the way up to 97 F at Malvern, Maquoketa, and Ottumwa, which remains tied for the highest October temperature on record in Iowa. Other reported high temperatures included 96 F at Bonaparte, 95 F at Eldora, Ovid, and Seymour, and 94 F at Mooar and Plover.

1875: The Iowa Weather Service began taking observations. Organized by Professor Gustavus Hinrichs at the University of Iowa with 60 initial weather observers, the functions of this agency are now largely maintained by the State Climatologist Office. Iowa possesses the oldest continuously operating state weather program in the nation.

1 October 1752 → A second severe hurricane in two weeks hit the Carolinas. The Onslow County Courthouse was destroyed along with all of its records, while Beacon Island disappeared until waters receded. 1 October 1945 → A Navy plane that went down in a typhoon in the South China Sea was the first Hurricane Hunter flight ever to be lost. 1 October 1976 → Hurricane Liza brought heavy rains and winds to Mexico, causing a dam to break on the Cajoncito River, flooding the town of La Paz, and killing at least 435 people.

Posted under Weather History