The month of October wasn’t much help in ending Iowa’s stretch of dry weather, but there’s been some promise in recent days. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says October continued the dry trend that’s been with us since summer. He says the precipitation was less than half the normal amount, to make October the 16th driest on record. He says it was also warmer than normal by about a degree-and-a-half at 52-point-three degrees. Hillaker says most places failed to get an inch of rain during the month.He says the statewide average was 98-hundredths of an inch compared to the average of two-point-five-two inches. Hillaker says the temps varied widely from warm to cold. He says we had a temperature as low as 16 degrees in Mason City on the second day of the month, then had a 90-degree day near the end of the month. Hillaker says the first few days of November have already seen more rain than all of last month. He says the rain for the most part recently has been soaking in and will help our subsoil moisture. Hillaker says the weather pattern we’re in favors a slightly cooler and wetter forecast for the rest of the month of November.