October 1969 -- A Year To Remember

I wasn't around in October 1969, but if you were, chances are that you might recall the unusual weather it brought.

On this date in 1969, a bitterly cold air mass was spilling south from the Arctic. It brought single-digit temperatures and widespread snow to the northern Rockies and high plains.

Meanwhile, record heat was found on the west side of the storm system with mid 60s as far north as central Alaska.

It was a stagnant weather pattern with much of the month cooler and wetter than normal for the lower 48 states.

In fact, for Denver, it was the coldest, wettest and snowiest October on record. And those records still stand today.

The cause for the unusual weather was the jet stream pattern. There was a huge ridge over the western US with a large trough of low pressure covering the rest of the country.

There was a great paper written about the weather pattern and the resulting weather that October.

Click here to read it.

The paper has charts, maps and detailed analysis of the scenario.