Local News

Chance of late-night Halloween showers, then cool and dry

The seasonable week of weather comes precisely 11 years after “Snow-tober” slammed New England with up to 2 feet of snow.

Foliage continues to change along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall near the Samuel Morris Statue in Boston. CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

By Morgan Rousseau

October 29, 2022

2 minutes to read

Next week will be mostly dry and cool, with temperatures set to hover in the 60s and a touch of rain due on Halloween night.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS) Boston bureau, Monday will be mostly cloudy with a high near 64. Trick-or-treaters may luck out, because showers likely won’t begin until around midnight.

Tuesday will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 67 and a nighttime low around 52. Sunshine breaks through on Wednesday, with a high around 64 during the day, then clear evening skies. Thursday will also be sunny but a little cooler, with a high around 61 and an evening low around 48.

Friday will be mostly sunny, with a high near 64. Looking ahead to next weekend, AccuWeather Boston forecasts a dry and partly sunny Saturday and Sunday next weekend. Nov. 5 will have a high of around 64, and Nov. 6 — the end of daylight saving time — will have a high of about 58.

This day in New England weather history: Hurricane Sandy and Snow-tober

This weekend marks the anniversaries of two major weather events in the eastern U.S.

Ten years ago, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey, impacting coastal areas as far north as Rhode Island. The superstorm, which killed 285 people and caused nearly $2 billion in damage, hit the coastline near Atlantic City on Oct. 29 and brought winds of 80 mph.

#OTD in Weather History:
October 29.

2012: Ten years ago Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey but its impacts were felt as far north as Rhode Island.

2011: Snow lovers out there surely remember this storm!
"Snowtober" brought 1-2 feet of snow to interior New England. pic.twitter.com/2n3RJYecff
— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) October 29, 2022

A year before that, New England saw an unseasonable amount of snow on Halloween. The last weekend of October 2011 saw between 1 and 2 feet of snow in the region. The event, dubbed “Snowtober” and the “Halloween Nor’easter,” broke snowfall accumulation records in at least 20 cities. The snowstorm caused estimated damage between $1 billion and $3 billion, and knocked out power to more than 3 million residences. Thirty-nine people died in connection to the storm; many fatalities were due to traffic accidents and downed power lines.

Mass. making strides against summer drought

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Massachusetts is bouncing back from a months-long drought that began in May.

The southeastern part of the state has rebounded the most, with the monitor reporting normal precipitation levels in that area. Still, more than half the state — 61 percent — was considered abnormally dry as of Oct. 25.

Currently, only 4 percent of the state, in Essex County, is considered in an extreme drought, compared to 96 percent of the state in late August.