Pennsylvania Weather Review: October 2026
The barrage of active weather that plagued the state for the past few month finally came to an end. October was a much calmer month, though this is not unusual for fall. Today I will recap the weather from October 2026 in Pennsylvania. This will be a much shorter post compared to recent months.
October Highlights
The month started off warm with temperatures in the upper 70s and 80s on the 1st with some light rain falling in northern parts of the state. A cold front swept through on the 2nd with highs in the 80s and some light rain and drizzle in southern and eastern portions of Pennsylvania.
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| 24 hour low temperatures ending 8am on October 6, 2026. Source. |
Dreary weather set on the 4th with overcast and dreariness in for central and eastern Pennsylvania while it remained warm & sunny to the west. Some locations in northern Pennsylvania remained in the 50s that day. It remained cool and breezy on the 5th. The first Freeze Warnings of the season came on the morning of the 6th to portions of north central Pennsylvania where temperatures dropped into the upper 20s. Conditions remained quiet through the 9th with the exception of a windy day on the 8th.
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48 hour precipitation totals ending 7am on October 12, 2026. Source.
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Certainly the most impactful system of the month arrived on the 10th. A steady rain moved in during the evening hours and continued into the afternoon of the 11th for much of the state. Very little precipitation fell in northwest Pennsylvania with over 1.50" falling across the southern half of the state. Strong winds were also observed along the western ridges of the Laurel Highlands. Temperatures on the 11th did not rise out of the 50s for most locations.
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24 hour high temperatures ending 8am on October 14, 2026. Source.
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Summer returned to the state on the 13th with record high temperatures in the 80s nearly statewide. The high of 85° in Erie is the warmest temperature on record on or after October 11th! Some isolated showers & thunderstorms impacted portions of the state becoming more widespread as the week advanced. This culminated with the passage of a cold front on the 16th which brought a line of severe storms that traversed the state.
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Chart highlighting record warm high temperatures on October 13, 2026.
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Portions of south central Pennsylvania surged into the 80s ahead of the front on the 16th. Behind the cold front temperatures crashed and high temperatures on the 17th were only in the 40s & 50s! This temperature drop also brought the first widespread freeze of the season ending the growing season for most of the state.
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Map of Watches, Warnings, and Advisories for Pennsylvania. Much of the state was under a Freeze Warning on October 17-18, 2026. Source.
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Behind the front a new weather regime would takeover and take hold for the rest of the month. Morning low temperatures would drop below freezing for much of the state each day through the 26th and there were little to no clouds through the period.
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Visible Satellite image from the morning of October 29, 2026, showing dense valley fog in central Pennsylvania. While foggy in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, the view here shows a cloud deck above the fog. Source.
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By the 27th both high and low temperatures would begin to rise a bit. There were less frosty nights to end the month and temperatures during the afternoon would reach the 70s more frequently. Clouds returned, too, with some foggy mornings especially the morning of the 29th. The combination of the warmth and prolonged dry period also resulted in dangerous fire danger. Windy conditions on the 29th exacerbated the fire risk hindering fire fighting conditions for emergency crews.
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| Fire Danger Forecast from October 30, 2026. Source. |
October Statistics
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| Temperature and Precipitation summary for 9 cities in Pennsylvania for October 2026. |
October 2026 was warmer than average statewide with the largest departures in southern Pennsylvania. Even with the large temperature departures, it was not a top 10 warmest October at any of these locations. The month was quite dry, too, with Pittsburgh the only relative wet spot. It was the 2nd driest October in Bradford and 5th driest for Erie.
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| Total precipitation for October 18-31, 2026. Source. |
The last 2 weeks of October were exceptionally dry with no precipitation across a wide swath of the state. Locations across Pennsylvania typically record 8 to 14 days with measurable precipitation during October. This year precipitation was recorded on 2 to 7 days of the month. The majority of precipitation recorded during the month fell on one day. In Allentown, 87% of the precipitation for the month fell on October 11th!
 | | # of days with measurable precipitation during October 2026 compared to average. |
|  | | Total precipitation on the wettest day of October 2026 compared to total precipitation of all 30 other days combined. Most locations recorded more than half of the monthly precipitation on just 1 day. |
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With the dry period came an extended period of clear sky. Below is a collage of webcam images from Penn State Altoona taken at noon every day in October. There were not very many days with clouds especially later in the month. You can also see the foliage changing. On the right is a graph of sky conditions from the Altoona Airport. While this is just for one location, similar conditions were observed statewide. The wind was also quite calm as noted by the NWS State College office.
 | Noon image from the PSU Altoona webcam every day in October 2026.
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|  | | Clouds and Visibility chart for October 2026 in Altoona. Source. |
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First Frost/Freeze
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| Date of the first temperature <=40° compared to climatology. |
All of Pennsylvania has now dipped below 40°. Philadelphia has yet to record the first frost of the season. Erie and Harrisburg have surpassed the average first freeze dates without dropping to 32°.
 | Date of the first frost compared to climatology.
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|  | | Date of the first freeze compared to climatology. |
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Quick Look at Drought Conditions
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| Drought Monitor for Pennsylvania as of October 27, 2026. Source. |
With the extended dry period, Abnormally Dry conditions have been added to the Drought Monitor in northwest Pennsylvania. This is something to keep an eye on in the coming weeks and months.
Webcam Image of the Month
A bright, high arching fogbow could be seen on the morning of October 6, 2026, in Sligo. While I have seen numerous fogbows on the webcams, I have yet to see one in person.
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| Webcam image from Sligo on October 6, 2026. Source. |
Wrapping Up & Looking Ahead
The weather has been splendid lately and I have been spending as much time outdoors as possible. Winter will be here soon and I look forward to getting more blog posts up- it is almost time to start thinking about the year in review!
As always, remember to look up! 🌤️
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