WHAT a brilliant month to follow that dismal September. Over England and Wales as a whole, this was the warmest October for more than 300 years, for as long as reliably comparable temperature measurements have been kept.

It is only six years, as well, since this record was last set up. In the last few years, both September, in 1999, and November, in 1994, have achieved similar feats. There is little doubt that the autumn seems to be warming up more than spring-time.

The North-East certainly fell in line during this balmy October. In my short, 19-year log here at Carlton in Cleveland, near Stokesley, it beat the previous warmest in 1995. Maxima were at similar levels, but minima were as much as 1C (2F) higher. Unusually, it was milder than this September, again due to higher night-time temperatures. Even more amazing, at a time when daylight is rapidly dwindling, it was sunnier than September too.

I saw a swallow flying around our house as late as the 27th. I'd like to think it was the exceptional weather that had fooled it into thinking it was still summer, though I suspect, unfortunately, that it had lost its bearings. It wouldn't have been helped by the complete lack of northerly winds to assist it on its way south.

October couldn't really be described as an "Indian" summer, as there were no hot days. Apparently, this term is of North American origin, when the Indians made the most of fine, autumn days to gather in the last of their crops.

Temperatures approached 20C (68F) on several days, notably on the 12th, when I recorded the highest of the month. Only one day in September bettered this, though it was well down on my absolute maximum for October of 24.5C (76F) on the 1st in 1985. This I remember well, for I managed to grab a day's holiday and my wife and I went walking on the North York moors. It was sunny and calm, so while climbing Ingleby Incline, it felt as hot as any summer's day.

Of course, there were no cold days or nights either in the past month. It shared the distinction, with October 1984, in having no ground frosts. Rainfall in our region just exceeded the norm.

These agreeable conditions were due to the south to south-westerly airstream that set in towards the end of last month and continued.

A variation on this theme occurred during the third week, when a very deep low became slow moving a few hundred miles to the south-west of Eire. Winds backed more south-easterly, with associated fronts spiralling northwards across Britain. Towards the weekend, small wave depressions developed over France, producing bands of prolonged, very heavy rain that swung north-westwards. We escaped the worst of this, though for many, Sunday the 21st was the wettest day of the month. Cambridge had six weeks of normal rainfall in a day, resulting in serious flooding.

A couple of other events are worth a mention. On the evening of Sunday the 14th, I noticed some cars in a car park in Nunthorpe with splash-marks of pale, yellowish-buff-coloured dust covering them. It presumably fell with slight rain in the early hours and had originated from dust storms in the eastern Sahara some days before.

Also, I observed the aurora just before dawn on Sunday the 28th.

OCTOBER TEMPERATURES

& RAINFALL at

CARLTON in CLEVELAND

Mean max 15.9C, 60.5F (+2.8C, +5F)

Mean min 10.2C, 50.5F (+3.3C, +6F)

Highest max 19.7C, 67.5F, 12th

Lowest min 5.4C, 42F, 28th

Total rainfall 67mm, 2.65in, (+5mm, +0.2in)

Wettest day 17mm, 0.7in, 21st

No of rain days, with 0.2mm (0.01in) or more: 19

(Figures in brackets show the difference from the 18-year mean, 1984-2000