Halloween Forecast: Chills For Trick-Or-Treaters, Snow Threat To Follow

MASSACHUSETTS — Parents across Massachusetts planning Halloween costumes for Tuesday night trick-or-treating will want to pick up something with layers as this weekend's near-record warm will be replaced with weather more fitting for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

After temperatures are expected to top 80 degrees in many locations on Saturday, they will plummet on Sunday and are forecast to reach a high of only the 40s on Tuesday. By the time the sun goes down for the costume candy parade across most cities and towns in the state, temperatures will be close to freezing with a high of only 40 degrees with rain — and even perhaps a touch of snow at high elevations, according to the National Weather Service — late Tuesday night into Wednesday.

"Will snow impact southern New England?" NWS Boston said in a Friday morning forecast update. "Well, that's the golden question. The track of the low will be imperative in evaluating the risk for accumulating snow over the next few forecast cycles. For now, we continue to hint at the risk
for the high terrain of southern New England, given (computer) ensemble probabilities of 1 inch of snow hover around 20 percent across the Worcester hills and slightly higher across the Berkshires.

"This early shot of winter looks to be short-lived, with mid-level ridging building back into southern New England by late week. Should by next weekend."

While trick-or-treating is traditionally done on Halloween night with times varying by community, some communities move the practice to the nearest weekend. Those will be the lucky ones this year with Saturday night shaping up as downright balmy before things change in a big way on Sunday.

"The pattern on Halloween across the Northeast may be favorable for a potent storm to develop and unleash far worse weather conditions across the region, including drenching rain from the coast to the interior, as well as the potential for accumulating snow farther to the north and west," AccuWeather Meteorologist Reneé Duff said Friday morning, adding that forecasters would continue to scrutinize the weather trends in the days to come.