...1777... The Battle of Germantown was fought in a morning fog that grew more dense with the smoke of battle, causing great confusion. Americans firing at each other contributed to the loss of the battle.
...1869... A great storm struck New England. The storm reportedly was predicted twelve months in advance by a British officer named Saxby. Heavy rains and high floods plagued all of New England, with strong winds and high tides over New Hampshire and Maine. Canton CT was deluged with 12.35 inches of rain.
...1969... Denver CO received 9.6 inches of snow. October of that year proved to be the coldest and snowiest of record for Denver, with a total snowfall for the month of 31.2 inches.
...1941... The high temperature peaked at 83 degrees at Newport, Rhode Island.
...1986... Excessive flooding was reported along the Mississippi River and all over the Midwest, from Ohio to the Milk River in Montana. In some places it was the worst flooding of record.
...1987... A storm brought record snows to the northeastern U.S. Snowfall totals ranged up to 21 inches at North Springfield VT. It was the earliest snow of record for some locations. The storm claimed 17 lives in central New York State, injured 332 persons, and in Vermont caused seventeen million dollars damage. The six inch snow at Albany NY was their earliest measurable snow in 117 years of records.
...1987...Southern California continued to "shake and bake". An earthquake was reported during the morning, the second in a matter of days, and during the afternoon temperatures soared well above 100 degrees. Highs of 100 degrees at San Francisco, and 108 degrees at Los Angeles and Santa Maria, were October records. San Luis Obispo was the hot spot in the nation with an afternoon high of 111 degrees.
...1988... Temperatures dipped below freezing in the north central U.S. Five cities in North Dakota and Nebraska reported record low temperatures for the date, including Bismarck ND with a reading of 17 degrees above zero. Low pressure brought snow and sleet to parts of Upper Michigan.
...1989... Unseasonably cold weather continued in the north central U.S., with freezing temperatures reported across much of the area from eastern North Dakota to Michigan and northwest Ohio. Thirteen cities reported record low temperatures for the date, including Saint Cloud MN, which was the cold spot in the nation with a morning low of 19 degrees.
...1995... Hurricane Opal deepened explosively over the central Gulf of Mexico during the morning hours. The pressure dropped from 951 to 916 millibars in only 9 hours to make it one of the strongest Atlantic Basin October hurricanes on record. Sustained winds reached 150 mph. Opal made landfall at Pensacola, Florida later in the day, but in a weakened state (marginal category 3). Sustained winds reached 83 mph at Mary Esther, Florida with a peak gust to 144 mph. A storm surge of up to 15 feet inundated the coast from Pensacola to Destin. 8.10 inches of rain was recorded at Evergreen, Alabama. 9 people were killed by Opal and total damage was estimated at $3 billion