October was wetter and warmer than normal in Tucson

October was wet and warm in Arizona.

The average temperature was 2.6 degrees above normal, making it the 13th warmest October on record, according to a monthly climate report compiled by John Glueck of the National Weather Service in Tucson.

The month was also soggy by Tucson standards. The official rain total of 2.25 inches was 0.89 inches above normal, making it the eighth wettest October on record.

The winter ahead should be equally wet, according to the meteorologists.

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Blame, or thank, El Niño, that periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean that gave us moisture from tropical storms through the late summer and fall, and will set up a shift in the jet stream to bring us, Southern California and the entire tier of Southern states, storms from the Pacific this winter.

The rainfall total for 2015 is now 12.79 — 2.7 inches above what we would normally collect by the end of October, and already above the annual average total of 11.59 inches, with two predicted wet months to go in the year.

The yearly temperature average is at 74.8, making it the second warmest year to date in the record so far.

The year has brought some drought relief to Arizona, with no parts of the state in the “extreme” or “exceptional” categories. But most portions of the state remain in the “moderate drought” or “abnormally dry” categories.