Remember our hike in the woods by the river?

We hiked down here:




Well I found this information about the rainfall totals this past month. It wasn't our imagination, it rained A LOT!

One of the wettest and cloudiest Octobers ever in Chicago is in the record books. The 7.69-inch rainfall measured at Midway Airport was the fourth wettest since observations began there in 1928. O'Hare International Airport is Chicago's official observation site, and its total of 6.04 inches was the ninth greatest in the 139 years of city records dating back to 1871. Rainfall frequency was also extraordinary, with measurable rain (0.01 inches or more) occurring on 19 of the 31 days, which tied October's all-time record set in 1883. Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel noted that even greater rainfall downstate raised the state average to 8.35 inches---the second wettest since cumulative state records were begun in 1895 (9.23 inches in 1941 is the wettest on record.)

Chicago's October's sunshine was only 33 percent of possible sun (58 percent is normal)--the second-cloudiest on record dating back to 1893. It actually tied two other years (1917 and 1984.) Only the 31 percent in October 1925 had less sunshine. Chicago's October temperatures also averaged about 5 degrees below normal.

Those first pictures are from September 27, 2009. On October 31, you didn't have to walk to the river at all. Our hiking trail is under all that water.



For a little better comparison, this picture was taken at about the same spot on the road at the end of our street.



Hard to believe isn't it? You can't even see the river from there a month ago, now it is *right* there.

Thank goodness for that umbrella Katie sent me for my birthday. It has been well used all month long!