From NWS
1916: A significant early season winter storm produced snow across virtually of Iowa on October 19-20 excepting extreme eastern areas along the Mississippi River north of Louisa County. In northwestern sections some locations reported more than 5 inches of snowfall with drifts several feet deep. More than 4 inches was also reported in a small area of Des Moines and Lee counties in the far southeast. At Des Moines 1.3 inches of snow was measured with 1.1 inches of that falling in 24 hours ending on the morning of the 20th, setting a record for the earliest 24 hour snowfall of an inch or more at that location which would stand for nearly a hundred years until October 10, 2009. Other reported snowfall totals included 2.0 inches at Denison, Keosauqua, New Hampton, Rock Rapids, and Webster City, 2.8 inches at Fairfield, 3.5 inches at Oskaloosa, 4.0 inches at Onawa, 4.3 inches at Mason City, and 5.0 inches at Le Mars.

20 October 1983 → The remains of Pacific Hurricane Tico left over a foot of rain in many areas of Oklahoma with 16.95 inches at Chickasha. 20 October 2004 → Typhoon Tokage became the tenth typhoon to strike Japan that year. Sixty people died.

Posted under Weather History