How Common Is Snow On Halloween In The Duluth Area?

I feel like most Minnesotans who are old enough to remember are a bit scarred by the big Halloween blizzard of 1991. Whenever there's a chance of snow in the forecast for Halloween, memories come rushing back of the crippling mess that blasted the region with a huge amount of early-season snow.

Despite that 30+ year-old memory, just how common is snow on Halloween in the Duluth area?

The National Weather Service office in Duluth dug into the weather archives to see just how many "White Halloweens" we have in our history - where there was snow on the ground for the spooky holiday.

I'd say people get way more excited about having a white Christmas than a white Halloween, and thankfully it isn't exceedingly common in the Duluth area to see snow on the ground for our haunting holiday.

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Now, this is despite the fact that Duluth usually does get some snow by the end of October. As we shared earlier this month, Duluth averages 2.7 inches of snow through the month of October. The thing to note is that most of that snow doesn't stick around too long, either due to the ground not being completely frozen yet, or due to a warmup to melt that snow.

So, just how common is a "white Halloween" in Duluth?

Photo by Sonja Constantinou on Unsplash

Over the last 70 years, there have been only 4 Halloweens where we started the day with snow on the ground. In 1955, 1984, and 2020 we had 1-3 inches of snow on the ground, and in 2017 we actually had over 3 inches of snow.

You might ask, "What about the 1991 blizzard you mentioned earlier?" Well, that snow didn't start falling until later in the day.

The 1991 blizzard is one of six Halloweens in Duluth's history over the last 70 years where snow fell on Halloween.

Will there be snow on Halloween in Duluth for 2023?

While the earlier forecast didn't predict it, there's now a chance we could see snow fall on Halloween this year. We will certainly have temperatures cold enough for snow.

The daytime high in the forecast as of the time of this article being published is a chilly 32 degrees in the afternoon. While there isn't a widespread chance of heavy precipitation, there is up to a 20% chance of some precip on Halloween, which would likely fall as snow with temperatures that cold.

Speaking of cold, Halloween will bring with it a chance for some chilly wind chills, too! During the warmest part of the day, that "feels like" temperature will only be around 22 degrees, with wind chills for most of the day in the teens. Brr!