The daily weather log

The first two weeks of October were cool – as cool as September, and no warmer than late August. There was little rain, low humidity and strong winds. The sub-soil temperature (at 750 mm) also remained low, not reaching 18° until the 18th, two weeks later than usual. Some cotton plantings suffered.
A warm spell came on the 20th, with the maximum on the 23rd (35.4°) being 8° above normal. By contrast, a rainy day on the 26th reached only 18.1°, more than 9° below normal. That day was the first in 33 days to have more than 5 mm of rain. Ten rain days (usually 7) brought 47.4 mm for the month.
Seven days began with a brown dust haze, adding to one in July, three in August, and seven in September.

 Comparing October months

Mean temperatures were close to normal. The mean humidity (early morning Dew Point: 4.3°) was low: lower than in 2007, but higher than in 2002 (3.3°). The percentage of cloudy mornings was normal.
The rainfall total, 47 mm, is in the 39th percentile for October, just 6 mm below the median (53 mm). Despite early worries, most rainfall totals improved. The only serious shortage affects the 6-month total. At 164 mm, it is in the 7th percentile.
Totals for periods longer than nine months are normal: the lowest is the ten-year total, which is in the 21st percentile. From November 1999 Manilla has had 6133 mm of rain, against the median 6393 mm. That is a shortfall of only 26 mm per year.

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperature and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.