It was another record visitation month for Yellowstone National Park in October.  A total of 194,804 recreational visitors came to Yellowstone last month, surpassing the previous October record of 189,072 set in 2010.

The dramatic year-to-year difference in visitation figures between October 2014 and October 2013 reflects the 16 day park closure due to last October’s federal government shutdown, according to a statement released by the park’s public affairs office.

There were 3,483,608 recreational visits to Yellowstone in first ten months of 2014, an increase of 10.26% over the same period in 2013.

With two months left in the calendar year, 2014 is already the second highest visitation year on record, surpassing the 3,447,727 recreational visits recorded in 2012.   The park’s peak visitation year was 2010, when there were 3,640,184 recreational visits to Yellowstone.

Visits 2014    Visits 2013         Change

January                 26,778         24,699        +   8.42 %

February                28,233         31,053        –   9.08 %

March                   18,778         18,613        +   0.89 %

April                   31,356         24,606        +  27.43 %

May                    310,039        293,250        +   5.73 %

June                   669,642        624,429        +   7.24 %

July                   858,857        812,212        +   5.74 %

August                 773,357        725,136        +   6.65 %

September              571,764        557,925        +   2.48 %

October                194,804         47,560        + 309.59 %

 

Total Year-To-Date   3,483,608      3,159,485        +  10.26 %

July is typically the peak visitation month in Yellowstone, followed in order by August, June, September, and May.

Detailed park visitation information and additional information on how these statistics are calculated is available online at https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park.