October 1
1976: Hurricane Liza, the third-deadliest Pacific hurricane on record, killed more than 600 people in northwestern Mexico.
October 2
1970: A weak but wet tropical depression began to drop heavy rain across the northeastern Caribbean Sea; particularly in Puerto Rico. Parts of the island would receive more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain over the next week, the most on record for any tropical cyclone in the area.
October 3
1970: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was formed.
October 4
1872: Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, the weather forecasting and data organization for Argentina, was founded under the name Oficina Meteorológica Argentina.
October 5
1851: The Yankee Gale came to an end after sinking 74 ships in three days, drowning 150 crew members.
October 6
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
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
2017: Hurricane Nate made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, causing relatively minor damage.
October 9
1804: A hurricane brought strong winds, heavy rain and, unusually, heavy snow to parts of the eastern United States.
October 10
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
1846: A major hurricane made landfall near Havana, Cuba, killing hundreds of people.
October 12
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
1978: The TIROS-N weather satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
October 14
1982: Typhoon Nancy made landfall on Luzon, Philippines, killing more than 100 people.
October 15
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
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
1091: One of the earliest recorded tornadoes killed two people in London.
October 18
1906: A major hurricane struck southern Florida, killing more than 200 people.
October 19
1983: Hurricane Tico made landfall near Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, killing more than 130 people
October 20
1997: Typhoon Ivan made landfall in northern Luzon, Philippines, killing 14 people.
October 21
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
2010: Cyclone Giri made landfall northwest of Kyaukpyu, Myanmar, killing 157 people.
October 23
1091: The London tornado of 1091, the earliest and possibly strongest know tornado in the history of the British Isles, hit downtown London, killing two people.
October 24
1988: The passenger ferry MV Doña Marilyn sank while sailing from Manila to Tacloban, Philippines during Typhoon Ruby, killing at least 77 passengers, though there were reports of almost 400 killed. The storm also killed more than 200 people elsewhere in the Philippines.
October 25
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
1978: Typhoon Rita made landfall over Luzon, Philippines, killing more than 300 people and leaving 200,000 homeless.
October 27
1920: Seymour Hess, an extraterrestrial meteorologist who issued the first ever weather report for Mars, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
October 28
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
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
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
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.