Weather in Spokane in October

A good month. October works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 15.3 °C, lows 4.1 °C, and rain falls on 9 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

October ranks 6 of 12 in Spokane: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 9 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 15.3 °C days and 4.1 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 4 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest October day reached 29.8 °C and the coldest night fell to -10.3 °C.

October is moderately variable: 8 mm in the driest year against 162 mm in the wettest, around an average of 48 mm. Roughly two Octobers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 7.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 68%.

How October sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 8.6 °C cooler than September, with November dropping another 8.2 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain is the thing that moves: November brings 5 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in October

11 hours of daylight, losing 1.7 hours across the month. That is between Spokane's extremes of 16 and 8.5 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 34.9 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

October in Spokane versus nearby

If Spokane is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Tri-Cities is a better bet in October — 4 °C warmer, 3 days less rain. Kelowna is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: October is a compromise. September is 25 points better and is what Spokane is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Spokane

See all twelve months in Spokane, or where else to go in October.