Rain, Strong Winds Expected On Halloween For Much Of New England
BOSTON (CBS) – I hate to use the age old, tired line, but it seems this year we are in for yet another weather "trick" as opposed to a "treat" on Halloween. If it feels like you have heard this before … well you have. Many, many times.
2011: "Snowtober" happened, postponing trick-or-treating for thousands.
2012: Hurricane Sandy happened, postponing trick-or-treating for thousands.
2017: A ferocious wind storm occurred in the days leading up to Halloween, knocking out power to more than 1 million New England residents. Once again, trick-or-treating was postponed for thousands.
2018: Red Sox World Series parade by day, 58 degrees and pleasant by night. OK, maybe this one doesn't belong
2019: Rain and strong, gusty winds in the forecast, and as of this writing, word of some towns considering or already moving to postpone for the 4th time in the last 9 years.
Clearly, October can be a very volatile month. It tends to mark the beginning of nor'easter season here in New England and we typically get some big dips in the Jetstream, leading to some very powerful storms. Not necessarily an ideal time for a bunch of little kids to run around the neighborhood to say the least.
If I am starting to sound like a Halloween-hater, you got me all wrong. I am actually a big fan of the holiday! However, I am a believer that scheduling the trick-or-treat portion of Halloween should be done not only on a Saturday evening, but also on a night when the weather is agreeable.Let's make this safe and fun for everyone! I digress.
A very powerful storm system will ride north through the Ohio Valley on Wednesday and head to our west on Thursday and Friday. While folks in parts of the Midwest, including Chicago, will see accumulating snowfall, on the other side of the storm here in New England we are in for some very heavy rain and powerful winds.
The heaviest rain and strongest winds will come overnight Thursday night into early Friday, but, unfortunately there will be enough rain and wind out ahead of that to cause some issues Thursday afternoon and evening.
Thursday Trick-or-Treat Forecast:
4 p.m.-8 p.m.: Periods of rain, varying in intensity, with southerly wind gusts between 25-45mph. Looking for a bit of good news? It will be mild! Temperatures will be in the mid to upper 60s late in the day on Thursday.
With winds this strong, there is certainly the potential for some downed limbs/trees and perhaps even some scattered power outages.
The peak of the wind and rain arrives early Friday morning. Some locations could easily receive 1-2" of rainfall by then along with wind gusts 50-60mph. (More on this in days to come)
My guess is that you will start to hear about more and more communities postponing Halloween until Saturday night.
Which would you prefer?
Thursday 6 p.m.: Rain, wind gusts 25-45mph, 65 degrees
Saturday 6 p.m.: Clear, wind 5-10mph, 50 degrees
I'll take Saturday.
Either way, be safe and stay tuned to WBZ-TV, CBSBoston.com and CBSN Boston for updates!
You can follow Terry on Twitter at @TerryWBZ.
