Everyone’s eyes are closely watching the forecast for this Sunday evening. Will Mother Nature scare up a frightful storm or hand out a treat of dry, mild weather for Halloween? If this year is anything like the past several plan to leave your winter jacket at home. Last October 31st was a breezy and mild day with a high of 67 and only a touch of rain (0.09” for the day). I can personally attest to the pleasant conditions as I took my three daughter’s out around the neighborhood. There really hasn’t been a poor Halloween for trick or treaters in Central New York since October 2002 when temperatures averaged 8 degrees below normal. The high that year was only 48 with a nighttime low of a bone chilling 26 degrees. It’s been so nice you would think a witch cast a nice spell on our Halloween festivities. Here is a list of the daily high temperatures and corresponding rainfall amounts for the past eight Halloweens:
2009 – 67° 0.09”
2008 – 67° Dry
2007 – 69° Dry
2006 – 68° 0.02”
2005 – 66° Dry
2004 – 64° 0.02”
2003 – 75° Dry ****RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR 10/31****
2002 – 48° Trace
Here are some additional notes of record from the October 31st almanac. Now that Daylight Saving Time doesn’t end until early November, we’ll enjoy a later 5:58pm sunset time. The normal high and low temperatures are 54 and 36 degrees. It snowed 3.7” on this date way back in 1906. The abominable snowman was a hot costume that year and probably back in 1917 as well, when the mercury never got past 34 degrees for the day.
So all this brings us to the all important question, what weather will this Halloween bring? Will those cute Tinker Bell costumes have to be covered with a coat? After a 7 year stretch of mild holidays, unfortunately it will be below normal with temperatures in the upper 40s this time. Perhaps you could get away with long underwear underneath the costume. Skies look to be partly cloudy and generally dry late day Sunday. Only a very low chance for any rain showers and no snow at least. I’ve included a Halloween trick or treat forecast graphic with this story. Look for continued updates to it on television as Sunday evening nears. Of course, we’ve got you covered anytime of the day or night right here on CNYcentral.com with our weather page.
