Ghosts and goblins will soon be roaming the streets of the D.C. area as Halloween night approaches, but can residents expect Mother Nature to provide her own troubling spirits, with a whistling breeze and pitter-patter of rain on Oct. 31 this year?
Reagan National Airport has a 53-degree temperature spread between the record high on Halloween Day (85 in 1950) and record low (a chilling 32 in 1968). In more recent times, the high temperature has been fluctuating between 50 and 60 degrees with lows in the 40s and 50s.
Halloween has become haunted with raindrops in recent years. Heavy rain either leading right up to Halloween or on the day itself has been common in the last three years.
The soggiest Halloween was in 2019 when 1.25 inches pelted D.C.
Meanwhile, there has never been snowfall accumulation observed in D.C. on Halloween Day.
The western suburbs had snow on the ground for trick or treat in 2011 when a winter storm two days before Halloween produced 1 to 4 inches of snow. By the time Halloween rolled around that year, the snowpack dwindled to just trace amounts.
Digging deeper into the weather records, Hagerstown was coated with 2.8 inches of snow the day before Halloween in 1925.
Although the weather won’t be completely spook-tacular on Halloween this year, there are no signs of heavy rain that will soak trick-or-treaters or strong wind that would tip over the witch’s brew. Temperatures will likely be near average in the upper 60s during the day and in the 50s at night.
For those communities observing Trick-or-Treat this weekend instead, a chilling Canadian high pressure will bring eerily quiet weather that will allow the witch’s laugh to echo in the night.
