But there’s more – the three-month period of August through October was the coolest on record for Kansas….and only a dozen Octobers in the last 115 years have been wetter than 2009 in Kansas.

The average temperature at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport was 51.2 degrees, a substantial 7.4 degrees below normal. Only 1925, which had an average temperature of 49.0 degrees, was colder.

But 2009 still put up some remarkable statistics: 25 of 31 days recorded below normal readings, with 13 of those days at least 10 degrees below normal.

Record low temperatures were set on Oct. 3 (37 degrees) and Oct. 11 (34). Record cool high temperatures were set on Oct. 10 (42) and Oct. 11 (45).

This October was on pace to be the coldest on record until a warm-up late in the month boosted the average temperature. That warm-up looks to continue for several more days.

Through Oct. 16, the average temperature in Wichita was 58.6 degrees. That’s a whopping 11.4 degrees below normal, and it is by far the coldest start to October since records began in Wichita in 1888.

The previous coldest start through the first 16 days was 64.4 degrees set in 1925.

Temperatures are moderating a bit early this week, but this has still been like having two Novembers. Folks who enjoy cold, chilly weather may like that – but I suspect they’ll be in the minority.

Make sense? Probably not. But what can I say?

Just for the record, the answer to my wonderment is “no.” The latest Wichita has ever hit 100 degrees in a calendar year is Sept. 28. The mercury reached 103 on Sept. 28, 1953.

Perhaps the more telling statistic is that every record high in September is 100 or more clear up to Sept. 19. Maybe that’s why 2009’s relatively cool September was so noteworthy: we’re used to summer hanging on much longer than it did this year.

Records show the average first freeze date in Wichita is Oct. 28. This being Kansas, however, there’s a significant swing in freeze dates on the calendar. The earliest recorded freeze in Wichita was Sept. 22, 1995.

The latest recorded freeze was Nov. 21, 1944 – just a few days before Thanksgiving, as a matter of fact.

But forecasters tell me fall-like temperatures had arrived in Wichita by late August, a few weeks ahead of schedule…so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Jack Frost would arrive early this year as well.

In fact, according to National Weather Service records, the outpost on the Canadian border has never hit 100 degrees. This is a place where the average lows through much of winter are below zero, and the highs need long-range binoculars to catch a glimpse of the freezing mark.

But it still caught my eye the other day when I read that International Falls just finished its second-coolest summer on record, with an average temperature of only 59 degrees. That’s a whopping 4.8 degrees below the 30-year climate normal.

Does this translate into an especially harsh winter for a place that knows bitter cold? Not necessarily, meteorologists tell me. In fact, the Climate Prediction Center’s outlook for December through February has a classic el Nino pattern in place – which means considerably higher than normal temperatures for the northern Plains.

That’s a distinct departure from the winter forecasts offered by the Farmers Almanac and AccuWeather, so it’ll be interesting to see whose forecast is most accurate.

If so, this was a rather soft summer for Wichita. The city hit 100 only four times this year, and not one of them was in August.

In fact, the city set one record low in late August and nearly set another. For the entire month, the average temperature was nearly four degrees below normal.

The record was set on Aug. 22, when the thermometer dropped to 53. Wichita hit 53 again on the last morning of the month.

Nearly 4 inches of rain fell in August, a full inch above average. For the year, Wichita is at 27.6 inches – 5.5 inches above normal.

“Western Colorado is pretty sweet this time of year. We just had a big peach festival this past weekend, President Obama was doing a town hall and while I was at the peach fest Michelle and their two girls showed up. Next month is the Colorado mountain wine festival in Grand Junction. Temperatures in the 80’s in the afternoon, and 50’s at night with very low humidity makes it feel great. Leaves start changing in the mountains latter this month and peak next month. ”

Hmmmm. Where’s my road map for Colorado???

She sent me this report a few days before a tornado struck Minneapolis:

“This summer has been one of Minnesota’s coolest summers of all-time. It is my first, but everyone kept saying, ‘It is never this cold here in July.’ Our first 90° day this summer was around August 12th… July 2009 was the 2nd coolest in weather history in the area and the tornado season also started out late. Normally the Twin Cities/Chanhassen NWS issues its first tornado watch/warning in May, but this year we didn’t have one until the end of June so it has been a slow severe weather season around the area.”

The current record is 56, set in 1961, and the National Weather Service is predicting an overnight low of 57 for Wichita.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” meteorologist Kevin Darmofal said. “We’ll be close.”

Friday’s low was 56, though that did not set a record for the date.

Russell could set or tie its record low for Aug. 22. The forecast of 52 would tie the record set in 1966.