With Halloween right around the corner, lets get into what type of weather we typically see. Below is a chart with 19 different cities across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West. It shows the average high and low, as well as records for temperatures and precipitation. Find your nearest city!
There is a lot of variation in temperatures and we can see that October 31st can be very sporatic. Since it is a transition month as we go from fall to winter, these changes in temperatures from the upper 70s and 80s as highs and 20s/30s as lows is not all that uncommon. Breaking records on the other hand, is pretty rare. Most of the records have stood for at least 20 years and some are even over 120 years old! It is clearly visible how rare it is to actually break records on a specific day.
Something I think is the most interesting is how many cities do have measurable snow on Halloween. These dates do not show the only time it snowed on Halloween, just the year when they got the most snowfall. Wherever there is a "N/A" this is where it has never snowed and accumulated on Halloween. A few cities may remember there being snow on the ground, but not accumulating on the day of Halloween. One thing to note is, you need cold temperatures for it to snow and based on the record low temperatures, it is difficult to get below freezing in some locations. So, for all the snow lovers, although it is possible for it to snow on Halloween, it can be inferred that most cities will not snow on October 31st.
Halloween may be a spooky time of the year already, but breaking a record, especially for snow or cold can be even scarier. Maybe the records will change in the coming years, only time will tell!
