October 1 edit
1976: Hurricane Liza, the third-deadliest Pacific hurricane on record, killed more than 600 people in northwestern Mexico.
October 2 edit
1966: The ESSA-3 weather satellite was launched.
October 3 edit
1992: Hurricane Virgil reached peak intensity off the southwestern coast of Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (210 km/h). The storm would weaken before making landfall the next day, causing no deaths and only minor damage.
October 4 edit
1872: Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, the weather forecasting and data organization for Argentina, was founded under the name Oficina Meteorológica Argentina.
October 5 edit
1851: The Yankee Gale came to an end after sinking 74 ships in three days, drowning 150 crew members.
October 6 edit
2008: Tropical Storm Marco formed in the Bay of Campeche, Marco had tropical-storm-force winds extending only 11.5 miles (18.5 km) from the center of the storm, making it the smallest tropical cyclone on record.
October 7 edit
2003: Hurricane Olaf made landfall near Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). No damage was reported.
October 8 edit
2017: Hurricane Nate made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, causing relatively minor damage.
October 9 edit
1804: A hurricane brought strong winds, heavy rain and, unusually, heavy snow to parts of the eastern United States.
October 10 edit
2018: Hurricane Michael, the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the United States since Hurricane Camille in 1969, made landfall in Mexico Beach, Florida, destroying most of the town.
October 11 edit
1846: A major hurricane made landfall near Havana, Cuba, killing hundreds of people.
October 12 edit
1997: Tropical Storm Olaf, an unusual storm which moved in several different directions over the course of two weeks, made its second and final landfall near Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico.
October 13 edit
1978: The TIROS-N weather satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
October 14 edit
1982: Typhoon Nancy made landfall on Luzon, Philippines, killing more than 100 people.
October 15 edit
1969: Hurricane Inga dissipated well southeast of Bermuda, 25 days after it formed. This made it the third-longest-lived tropical cyclone on record for the North Atlantic.
October 16 edit
2016: Typhoon Sarika made landfall in Baler, Aurora, Philippines, with 1-minute sustained winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) and a minimum barometric pressure of 935 millibars (27.6 inHg).
October 17 edit
1091: One of the earliest recorded tornadoes killed two people in London.
October 18 edit
1906: A major hurricane struck southern Florida, killing more than 200 people.
October 19 edit
1924: The earliest known category 5 hurricane struck the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba, killing around 90 people.
October 20 edit
1997: Typhoon Ivan made landfall in northern Luzon, Philippines, killing 14 people.
October 21 edit
1638: A severe storm known as The Great Thunderstorm produced an occurrence of what may have been ball lightning in a church in Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor, England, killing four people.
October 22 edit
2010: Cyclone Giri made landfall northwest of Kyaukpyu, Myanmar, killing 157 people.
October 23 edit
1920: Ted Fujita, arguably the most influential severe weather researcher of all time, was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.
October 24 edit
2006: Cyclone Xavier, an unusually intense early-season South Pacific tropical cyclone, reached peak intensity near Vanuatu.
October 25 edit
1921: A major hurricane made landfall near Tarpon Springs, Florida. As of 2018 this was the last major hurricane to hit the Tampa Bay area.
October 26 edit
1978: Typhoon Rita made landfall over Luzon, Philippines, killing more than 300 people and leaving 200,000 homeless.
October 27 edit
1920: Seymour Hess, an extraterrestrial meteorologist who issued the first ever weather report for Mars, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
October 28 edit
2020: Hurricane Zeta made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (190 km/h), making it the latest-in-the-calendar-year major hurricane to hit the United States on record.
October 29 edit
1998: Hurricane Mitch, after drifting off the coast for nearly a week, finally made landfall in Honduras. It would cause historic flooding over the next few days, killing as many as 18,000 people.
October 30 edit
2010: Hurricane Tomas passed through the Windward Islands, killing 14 people. This was the latest on record that a hurricane has affected the area.
October 31 edit
1994: American Eagle Flight 4184 encountered freezing rain while approaching O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. The plane crashed after undergoing heavy icing, killing all 68 people aboard.