Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, Marietta's annual precipitation was above normal by the end of October, according to local weather watcher Charlie Worsham.
"We were 0.3 inches below for the year for the first 26 days of the month, but during the last five days we picked up enough rain to put us a half-inch over for the year's precipitation level," he said.
Normal rainfall for October is 2.9 inches, and this year the month finished out at 3.71 inches of rain, with 2.83 inches of that falling between Saturday and Wednesday.
Worsham's records show 0.15 inches of precipitation fell Saturday and 0.83 inches on Sunday.
The most rain-1 inch-was recorded on Monday, followed by 0.65 inches on Tuesday and 0.20 inches on Wednesday as the storm began to taper off.
The extra rain has resulted in some rise in local stream and river levels, but nowhere near flood stage.
Fact Box
October's weather: at a glance
Actual average high temperature: 64.1 degrees.
Normal average high: 67 degrees.
Actual average low temperature: 45 degrees.
Normal average low temperature: 44 degrees.
Actual rainfall: 3.71 inches.
Normal rainfall: 2.9 inches.
Source: Marietta weather watcher Charlie Worsham.
"The Ohio River level was at 23.5 feet when I checked this morning," Worsham said on Thursday.
Simone Lewis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, W.Va., said in spite of the rain and snow generated by Hurricane Sandy, no flooding is expected in this area.
"There were some flooding issues in (West Virginia's) eastern panhandle, but at this point we're not expecting anything in the Marietta area," she said.
Lewis said the melting of snows that fell in the highlands of West Virginia during this week's storm would likely amount to between two and six inches of runoff.
"But that's expected to melt slow enough so that it won't be a major threat to flooding," she said, adding that precipitation and river levels in the Pittsburgh area, which can have an impact on Ohio River communities downstream, are also not expected to cause flooding in this area.
Local temperatures were near normal during October, Worsham said.
"But this was the earliest that our temperatures got down to 32 degrees in October since we hit 31 degrees on Oct. 7, 2001," he said.
The lows hit 32 degrees three times last month, on Oct. 9, 11, and 13. The highest temperature was 80 degrees on Oct. 2.
