The winter solstice is still a few weeks away, but meteorological Fall (September, October, and November) has officially ended and it was the fourth warmest on record in New York City.

The season, a transitional period between summer and winter, can often feel like a temperature roller coaster. This year, highs ranged from 91°F to 38°F. In the end, though, the warmth came out on top. The city’s average temperature for the three months was 60.4°F, which is 2.9°F above normal.

In all, fifty-nine days posted above-average readings and two of the season’s three months were warmer than their long-term norms. In fact, October 2017 was the city’s warmest October on record.  

This autumn was dominated by a pattern of warm spells separated by a few short-lived blasts of cold air. It was largely driven by the jet stream staying well to the north for most of the season with just a few dips southward.

The city’s warmest autumn on record, according to the NWS, occurred in 2015, which tied 1931 with an average temperature 61.8°F.  The coldest was 1871 when the three-month average was only  51.7°F.  Central Park weather records date back to 1869.

Credit: The Weather Gamut