Halloween climatology in the Twin Cities

Halloween is typically a time of crunchy leaves on the ground, a bit of chill in the air, and lots of candy. High temperatures in the Twin Cities are generally in the 40s and 50s. It is more common for the daily high on Halloween to be in the 60s than in the 30s. 70s tend to be rare, with only eight Halloween high temperatures being 70 degrees or above or about one in eighteen years. The warmest Halloween on record was 83 degrees in 1950, with one of the coldest one year later with a high of 30 in 1951. The coldest Halloween maximum temperature was a bone-chilling 26 degrees back in 1873. The last twenty-five years have had some balmy Halloween afternoons, like the 71-degree F high in 2000. We've had some chilly ones as well, like in 2017, when the temperature never rose above 35 F at MSP. The area has not seen a Halloween washout, with measurable precipitation during the evening, since 1997.

Measurable precipitation has occurred on Halloween only 26% of the time in the Twin Cities, or 38 times out of 145 years. The most rain recorded was in 1979 with .78 inches. In 1991 .85 inches of precipitation fell, which was snow. In spite of the 1991 Halloween Blizzard, measurable snow on Halloween is about as rare as getting a full-sized candy bar in your trick-or-treat bag. Since 1872 there's been enough snow to measure only seven times: 0.6 in 1884; 0.2 in 1885; 1.4 in 1932; 0.4 in 1954; 0.5 in 1995; 1.8 inches in 2023; and of course 8.2 inches, with the opening round of the Halloween Blizzard in 1991. Thus, there has been measurable snow on only 4% of the days.

Year by year climatology for Halloween for the Twin Cities 1872-2023
(with some trick or treat observations from Maplewood)
Tr = trace
Year	Max	Min	Pre
1872	42	35	0
1873	26	17	0
1874	36	21	0
1875	34	24	0
1876	54	39	0.01
1877	46	31	0
1878	37	15	0
1879	35	17	0
1880	54	30	0
1881	62	37	0
1882	54	33	0
1883	42	32	0
1884	50	36	Tr
1885	40	31	0.02
1886	72	50	0
1887	67	30	0
1888	59	44	0
1889	44	36	0
1890	36	22	Tr
1891	57	32	0
1892	47	39	0.15
1893	68	44	0
1894	42	36	0.05
1895	40	26	0
1896	42	30	0.08
1897	49	40	0.01
1898	51	26	0
1899	56	36	0
1900	55	44	0.63
1901	54	41	Tr
1902	65	40	0.02
1903	56	39	0
1904	66	41	0
1905	36	23	0
1906	44	26	0
1907	53	45	0.19
1908	40	24	0
1909	53	41	0.10
1910	56	37	0
1911	38	23	Tr
1912	44	29	0
1913	39	22	0
1914	68	48	0
1915	61	48	0
1916	55	36	0
1917	32	21	Tr
1918	38	28	Tr
1919	42	23	0
1920	40	34	0.15
1921	60	40	0
1922	55	49	0.52
1923	44	24	0
1924	62	44	0.10
1925	46	27	0
1926	38	29	0.05
1927	56	39	0
1928	41	35	0
1929	60	39	0.58
1930	34	22	0
1931	45	39	0.01
1932	33	29	0.06
1933	78	57	0
1934	38	28	Tr
1935	43	21	0.73
1936	64	36	0
1937	57	41	Tr
1938	70	46	0
1939	49	31	0
1940	52	42	0.09
1941	41	34	0
1942	49	34	0
1943	44	32	0.28
1944	74	48	0
1945	40	24	0.02
1946	58	38	0
1947	54	48	0
1948	68	45	0
1949	42	20	0
1950	83	51	0
1951	30	18	0
1952	66	38	0
1953	47	35	0
1954	38	21	0.04
1955	44	30	Tr
1956	50	43	Tr
1957	60	39	0
1958	66	37	0
1959	43	33	0.01
1960	45	39	Tr
1961	59	36	0
1962	45	24	0
1963	51	36	Tr
1964	66	49	0
1965	56	33	0
1966	50	31	Tr
1967	54	24	0
1968	63	40	0
1969	43	40	0.37
1970	40	38	0.01
1971	42	29	0
1972	41	38	0.05
1973	53	39	Tr
1974	64	56	0.48
1975	70	49	0
1976	55	25	0
1977	61	44	0.72
1978	56	31	0
1979	61	43	0.78
1980	55	34	0
1981	63	36	0
1982	51	34	0.19
1983	52	41	Tr
1984	44	24	0.18
1985	51	35	Tr
1986	55	33	0.30
1987	56	37	0
1988	56	32	Tr
1989	46	31	0
1990	70	38	0
1991	32	28	0.85 8.2 inches of snow by Midnight.
1992	44	38	0.03
1993	38	26	0
1994	54	29	0
1995	40	33	0.11 There was .5 (one half) an inch of snow. This was the last time there was measurable snow on Halloween until 2023. 
1996	32	16	Tr
1997	61	32	0.35 Cold rain in evening. 
1998	47	44	0
1999	68	41	0    Very warm and sunny with little wind.
2000	71	46	0    Mild and pleasant evening.
2001	61	49	0    Cloudy am, then very mild and breezy with 50's and a full moon.
2002	34	24	0    Cold clear and breezy evening with upper 20's.
2003	40	32	0    Cloudy and cool evening. 
2004	44	40	Tr   Cloudy with drizzle am, low 40's in evening could see moon through clouds at 9pm. 
2005	50	38	Tr   Cloudy day, few peeks of sun at sunset. Evening clearing and calm with temps in the 40's. No moon, brilliant Mars east.
2006	36	24	0    Dry and cold with a stiff NW wind during the day. Mostly clear sunset with 1/2 moon visible.
2007	62	39	Tr   Evening clear and in the 40's, chilly NW wind. 1st Halloween with new daylight savings time rule.
2008	62	41	0    Sunny skies. pleasant and a bit breezy during the day, 
2009	44	35	0.01 Flurries am (none at airport), mostly cloudy and cool evening. Moon shining through clouds.
2010	49	30	0    Frosty start, sunny day and perfectly calm. Cool evening.
2011	50	33	0    Sunny afternoon, clear and pleasant Halloween evening, little wind.
2012	52	25	0    Seasonable Halloween with mid-upper 40's in the evening with calm wind and a full moon.
2013	50	40	Tr   Cool and pleasant day turned damp as light rain and drizzle moved in late evening.
2014	40	26	0    Coldest Halloween since 2006, quite dark despite 1/2 moon.
2015    51	44	0.33 Rain in the morning, upper 40's in evening, at 8pm a few thunderstorms developed to the east with flashes of lighting.
2016    58      42      Tr   Cloudy and gloomy, but mild. Moderate drizzle from 4-9pm, not enough to deter trick-or-treaters.
2017    35      27      0    Cloudy day and cold, with some sun in the late pm, clear night and cold, but calm winds. Lots of kids, but over by 8pm.
2018    54      37      0    Clear start, sunny seasonable weather.
2019    36      26      0    Clear, cool and calm Halloween.
2020    55      33      T    A Blustery day with strong NW winds beginning in late afternoon, filtered sun. A trace of snow fell but trick-or-treating was undeterred.
2021    49      36      0    Sunny and a windy start, then winds dying down and seasonable evening.
2022    65      38      0    All in all a fairly pleasant Halloween Evening, many trick or treaters. 
2023    37      26   0.09    Snow event that ended the morning of Halloween resulted in 2 inches of snow on the ground. Evening was cold with winds becoming light NW. Trick or Treaters about 40% less than the year before.