Temperatures in the contiguous United States were slightly below average last month, snapping a 16-month streak of above-average warmth, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said yesterday.

But that brief return to lower temperatures wasn't enough to keep January-October 2012 from becoming the warmest first 10 months of a year since record-keeping began in 1895.

The average temperature in the contiguous United States was 58.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.4 degrees above the 20th-century average and 1.1 degrees higher than the previous January-to-October record set in 2000.

The average temperature in October, 53.9 F, was 0.3 degrees below average. Nineteen states recorded temperatures below normal, with only the Northeast and Southwest warmer than average.

The lower 48 states were also wetter than average, and the index tracking extreme weather activity set a record high.

Partly because of Superstorm Sandy, the contiguous United States received an average of 2.19 inches of precipitation, just above the long-term average. Seven states -- Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Washington -- recorded precipitation totals that stand among their 10 wettest.

But with drought still holding on in the center of the country, the southern Rockies and central and southern Plains were drier than normal. Texas had its ninth-driest October on record, NOAA said.