BUFFALO, N.Y. — With Halloween falling on the last day of October and in the middle of fall, it's no surprise that the forecast for each Halloween can drastically change from year to year. And the past 30 years prove that.
Climatology shows that Buffalo's average high and low temperature for October 31 are 54 and 38 degrees. But of the past 30 years, only two have come within that range to define as a "usual" Halloween forecast wise. All others have been anything but. Below is a list of highlights from Halloween forecasts of the past 30 years.
This year, high temperatures on Halloween will only reach the mid-upper 40s, which makes it a cooler than average holiday. But at least there's no rain or snow expected this time.
The warmest Halloween since 1990 was on Friday, October 31, 2003. High temperatures reached 69 degrees on this mostly sunny and breezy day. On the flip side, the coldest Halloween of the past 30 years was on Sunday October 31, 1993 when high temperatures only reached 37 degrees. Western New York also received between 2 to 3 inches of snow that day.
In addition, 20 of the past 30 years have had either rain or snow fall on Halloween. The snowiest was in 1993 with an official recording of 2.8 inches of snow measured at the Buffalo Airport. The most snow ever recorded on Halloween was in 1917 with a snow total of 4 inches.
The rainiest Halloween of the past 30 years just occurred last year with 1.43 inches of rain recorded that day, setting a new daily rainfall total too. The storm system that brought this rainfall also brought wind gusts near 60 mph, which caused localized power outages and downed many trees.
As for the morning of the holiday, six of the past 30 years have had the coldest morning low of the month recorded on Halloween. That shouldn't come as a surprise as temperatures gradually cool throughout the month. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Halloween is just shy of this 30 year window with a morning low of 22 degrees in 1988. Comparatively, the warmest temperature ever recorded on Halloween in Buffalo was 73 degrees in 1971.
This year has been chilly, but at least there's no rain or snow expected on Halloween.
All the above data is based on observations and records kept at the National Weather Service Office in Buffalo, NY at the Buffalo Airport.
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