Halloween forecast looks spooky compared to our recent warm weather
We might see the season's first snowfall on Thursday in the Twin Cities, with conditions clearing but cold and windy by trick-or-treating time.
When it comes to this Halloween’s weather forecast, it’s a trick more than a treat.
With the unseasonable warmth this September and October, trick-or-treaters might have been expecting to go without coats or layers, but Mother Nature has a spooky forecast that includes a word we haven’t seen lately: snow.
But first, let’s talk about temperatures.
“So despite the warm weather we’ve been having – we even reached 80 degrees at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Tuesday — temperatures will cool off pretty drastically tomorrow, especially around trick-or-treating time,” says Brennan Dettmann, meteorologist with the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service, on Wednesday.
“We’re expecting temperatures to be in the mid- to upper 30s,” Dettmann said of Thursday’s forecast.
The expected wind gusts could make it feel even chillier, Dettmann says, so trick-or-treaters should dig out those mittens and warm socks.
“The main thing, going into trick or treating, you’ll want to add an extra layer or two to account for the cold,” Dettmann says.
We might need umbrellas on Thursday, too.
“Another thing that people need to keep in mind is the potential for precipitation to occur,” Dettmann said. “It will be a lot of widespread rain tonight into tomorrow morning.
“With temperatures cooling off, there’s a potential for a snow mix in there as well. That includes the Twin Cities — that would be more so in the morning time.”
Since the ground is still so warm, Dettmann says, the current forecast isn’t calling for much accumulation.
This wasn’t the case last year, if you recall that ghost of Halloween past: The season’s first measurable snowfall event in 2023 happened as Halloween approached, bringing a frightful 2.7 inches of the white stuff to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport — with 1.8 inches of it falling on Oct. 31 itself.
The morning commute could once again be tricky on Halloween, though.
“The snow that would be falling likely would come during the morning commute,” Dettmann says, “so that’s something people should be aware of as they head outside tomorrow.”
If there’s anything to shovel, Dettmann predicts, it’ll likely be the wet and slushy variety.
Conditions are expected to improve as November begins.
“We should warm up again to temperatures near normal,” he says. “Normal for this time of year is low- to mid 50s or so.”
We might also see more precipitation — currently predicted as rain — as we head into the weekend.
What's Your Reaction?
