OCTOBER | Old Pueblo Almanac

November 2024

October 2025

[2025] October

The Tenth Month

The Summer Triangle is still overhead, drifting slowly to the East as the month progresses. The “wet” constellations Aquarius, Pisces, and Southern Fish move further up into the night sky. The Milky Way is directly overhead. Venus shines brightly in the East in
the early morning getting lower and dimmer through the month while Jupiter gets higher. Saturn
rises before dusk and can be seen in the Southern sky. The waning crescent moon is hovering
near Venus on the 19 th . The minor Draconid meteor shower peaks on October 9. Look to the
NW in the late evening. The mediocre Orionid meteor shower peaks on October 21-22 predawn
to the South.

October Moon Signs

Moon Phases

Full Moon 6 TH Day
(Small Rains-O’Odham)
Last Quarter 13 th Day
New Moon 21rd Day
First Quarter 29 st Day

Best Time To:

Bake: October 12,13
Brew: October 21-23
Begin diet to lose weight: October 6,27
Plant aboveground crops: October 4,5
Plant belowground crops: October 12,13
Best Fishing Days (moon between new and full): October 1-4,21-31

October has 31 days.
“October is a fallen leaf, but it is also the wider horizon more clearly seen.”

- Hal Borlan

October Weather

“The Temperature Drops from 100 to 80 like it saw a State Trooper!”

TUCSON WEATHER AVERAGES FOR OCTOBER

Record High 103 (10/1/2020)
Record Low 26 (10/20/71)
Record Precipitation
Maximum 2.96 (10/1/1983)

October Flora and Fauna

Desert Broom (Baccharis sarothroides), an avid colonizer of waste areas, blooms this month, setting off the fall allergy season. This shrub is a favorite of butterflies, bees, wasps and beetles, which can be seen enjoying the sweet nectar. Many plants are
fruiting, including barrel cactus, desert hackberry, wolfberry, and soapberries, providing food for resident birds, rodents, coyote, foxes and bears. Fall colors appear in canyons
and in the mountains. Snakes head to burrows this month, though they may try to grab a last meal on warm days, so stay alert.

Notable October Dates:

-October 2, 1841: Birthday of John Horton Slaughter also known as Texas John Slaughter, American lawman, cowboy, poker player and rancher in the Southwestern United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who earned a reputation fighting hostile Indians and Mexican and American outlaws in the Arizona and New Mexico territories (d. 1922).

-October 7,1905: Birthday of Andy Devine [ Andrew Vabre Devine], American character actor (Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Stagecoach), born in Flagstaff, Arizona (d. 1977).

-October 12, 1922: Birthdate of Merlin K. Duval, Founding Dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson (d. 2007).

-October 15, 1870: The Arizona Citizen was first published on this date by Richard C. McCormick with John Wasson as publisher and editor, and later became The Tucson Citizen. It was the oldest continuously published newspaper until it ceased operations in 2009.

-October 18, 1824: Birthday of John Noble Goodwin; a United States attorney and politician who served as the first Governor of Arizona Territory. He was also a Congressman from Maine and served as Arizona Territory's delegate to the United States House of Representatives 9 (d.1887).

October 20, 1844: Birthday of John Charles Handy, a prominent Tucson physician (1871-1891) who attacked his wife's divorce attorney and was killed (d.1891).

-October 22, 1818: Birthday of John Brackett "Pie" Allen, prospector, businessman, and politician. Unsuccessful in his efforts as a prospector, he earned his nickname baking pies for settlers and soldiers in Arizona Territory. He served three terms in the Arizona Territorial Legislature, two terms as Mayor of Tucson, Arizona Territory, and was appointed Arizona Territorial Treasurer for six years (d. 1899).

-October 23, 1919: Birthday of Katie Lee, American folk singer, actress, writer, photographer and environmental activist (d. 2017).

-October 26, 1881: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday & Clantons involved in gunfight at OK Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona.