October’s record-setting rain is causing problems for many on campus and in the state, and it’s not letting up. University climatologist Jay Grymes said October has received 10 inches of rain, making it the second wettest October since 1888. He said October 1984 received the most rain, at 14.8 inches.It’s not easy to explain why this month has been unusually rainy, Grymes said. An unusually wet October in a normal year can be attributed to tropical systems — which isn’t the case this year, he said.”We have seen a sequence of fronts more wet and stormy than normal for this time of year,” he said.El Niño years usually mean wet weather in South Louisiana, causing some scientists to believe El Niño is the cause for an unusual month of weather, Grymes said. But he said El Niño rains historically don’t show up until November or December.El Niño is the tropical Pacific Ocean phenomenon associated with warming ocean temperatures across parts of the Pacific. It usually leads to fewer hurricanes and increased rainfall across the South, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We’ve had a progression of frontal systems that have been abnormally wet,” he said. “The atmosphere has been conducive to rainy weather, but there is no clear reason why it’s chosen this October to do this.”  CAMPUS EFFECTSGaines Foster, College of Arts and Sciences dean, said the University does not have quantitative data on the topic, but he has seen a drop in attendance in classes on rainy days.”When I first came to LSU, I had a [teaching assistant] from Nebraska,” he said. “My T.A. noticed if it snows hard in Nebraska, students skip class. In Louisiana, if it rains hard, students skip class.”Foster said he has never correlated rain and grades, but his previous experience as a teacher has shown students who go to class regularly do better than students who don’t.Jessica Neel, textile, apparel design and merchandising freshman, said the rain has never stopped her from going to class, but she did skip her Students on Target meeting because of heavy rain.”Luckily, it always seems to stop raining before I get out of class,” she said.Grymes said this year won’t break 1984’s record for the wettest October, but more rain is on the way.”It’s not over yet — we still have two more fronts coming through next week,” he said. “We’ll get more rain until we close the month out.”STATE EFFECTSMike Strain, commissioner of agriculture forestry, said state farmers are feeling the damage from a year of unusual weather. Many crops, like sweet potato, cotton, rice and sugar cane are affected by the summer drought, followed by the fall flooding.Sugar cane and some rice harvesting were delayed because of recent rain, some cotton crops haven’t defoliated and some bean crops experienced heavy damage, he said.The state is trying to obtain a federal disaster declaration for state agriculture, Strain said. He said the state is preparing a loss assessment report, which will make an assessment of the damage and decide if the state qualifies for a disaster.This is the second year state farmers had weather cause crop damage, Strain said. The state won’t know which year is worse until the assessment report is released, he said.”We’re working hard to get federal money to assist farmers and get them back on their feet,” he said.Grymes said South Louisiana’s normal flood season is winter and spring, which means the year’s worst rains are still to come, along with the threat of river and bayou flooding, he said. —-Contact Steven Powell at [email protected]