While most of the country was enjoying an unusually balmy and comfortable October compared to the norm, out West Mother Nature delivered a different pattern.  After starting the month out with plenty of residual summer warmth, temperatures quickly dropped back down to sit squarely below average from the 11^th through to the end of the month.  The figure below shows the daily average temperatures within California throughout the month, which hovered between 1 and 4 degrees below normal.  The swift change from summer warmth to the cooler Q4 conditions this year around meant the drop-off in load from Q3 to Q4 was smaller than what typically shows up come fall in California.  CAISO system load held at a 26.4 GW average for the month of October, down just 2.5 GW from September and approximately 1.5 GW higher than October the previous two years. 

Figure 1. California Daily Average Temperature and Difference from Normal (F)