Editorial

It's been a month to remember

Monday, October 17, 2005

What a month it has been. Long-time residents of the McCook area are stretching their minds, trying to remember an October -- or any month for that matter -- with better weather than October of 2005.

It's been ideal.

For the 17 days to date in 2005's beautiful October, the average temperature has been higher every single day than the historic average for that day. Let's repeat that for emphasis: the average October temperature in 2005 has been higher every single day than the historic average.

And it hasn't been by just a bit ... it's been by a lot. Take Oct. 3, 2005, for example. The average temperature that day was 80 degrees, compared to the long-term average of 49 degrees.

The delightful thing is that the warm spell is continuing. This past weekend, daily highs reached 82 on Friday, 77 on Saturday and 75 on Sunday. The average temperature on those three days was 62, 58 and 62, compared to the long-term daily averages of 42, 39 and 50.

Even when welcome rains arrived -- on Monday, Oct. 10, and Tuesday, Oct. 11 -- the weather was mild, with average temperatures of 54 and 48 on the days that 1.58 inches of rain fell in McCook.

More nice weather is in the forecast, with highs in the 80s predicted for both today and Tuesday, followed by cooler weather and the chance of precipitation on Wednesday.

Who knows what the rest of October will bring, not to mention November or December? But, whatever happens, we need to remember the wonderfully pleasant stretch of weather in the first half of October 2005. You would be hard-pressed to find any place, anywhere with more delightful days than we have experienced in the past 17 days.

More Localisms -- Thanks to Bonnie Monzon, we're adding to the list of "localisms" for the McCook area. "A couple I thought of right away were, 'The Islands' on Norris Avenue, and 'Butler Hill,' the long hill south of McCook. 'M Hill' is another one we know."

Bonnie also recalls that her boys used to go out to the "Y," not the YMCA but the place where the highways met west of town. "It was the turnaround point for dragging main," she said. Do you know of other localisms? Send them to: Editorials, McCook Daily Gazette, P.O. Box 1268, McCook, NE 69001, or publisher@mccookgazette.com

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