Hottest and coldest Halloweens on record
Whether it’s bone-chilling cold or record-breaking heat, Halloween’s weather has a way of setting the mood. These are the years when Mother Nature decided to get in on the fright night fun.
This past week, a New Jersey lawn was decorated in the theme of Dirty Dancing. Skeletons replicated the memorable dances and scenes from the 1987 film.
It was a night like no other—or was it? On Halloween, even the air itself seems to play tricks on us mere mortals. Weather has always been woven into the holiday's lore: the flicker of candles in a gusty wind or the fog that rolls in just as the porch lights dim. But history shows that the most memorable chills and thrills on Halloween haven’t always come from haunted houses. Sometimes, the real fright comes straight from the weather itself. From ghostly cold snaps to record-setting warmth, here’s a look back at the hottest and coldest Halloweens on record, when the atmosphere itself decided to join in the fun.
1966 - Concord, New Hampshire - 14 F Low
On Oct. 31, 1966, trick-or-treaters in the small New England city faced one of the most frigid Halloweens on record, with low temperatures in the teens. The early-season cold in New Hampshire was part of a broader cold outbreak that spilled across the Northeast during the final days of October.
1930 - Los Angeles, CA - 92 F High
Halloween in Los Angeles can feel more like midsummer than fall, but Oct. 31, 1930, still stands out as the city’s hottest on record, topping out at 92 F. A late-October warm spell swept across Southern California that week, with high temperatures in Los Angeles at least 80 F every afternoon. With virtually no marine layer to temper the sun, inland heat spilled toward the coast, and Halloween decorations baked on porches as trick-or-treaters swapped masks for hand fans.
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2006 - Seattle, Washington - 30 F Low
Halloween 2006 arrived with an unfamiliar chill in Seattle, the kind that cut straight through the fog and costume fabric. The low dropped to 30 F, tying the city’s coldest Halloween on record alongside Oct 31, 2003.
2024 - New York City - 81 F High
Fall 2024 in New York City was one for the record books, with scant rainfall and eerily warm weather. Halloween 2024 felt more like late August or early September in New York. It hit 81 F in Central Park and 83 F in nearby Newark, New Jersey. All of this was caused by a ridge of high pressure parked over the eastern United States, leading to bone-dry and warm weather.
A display of pumpkins prepared for Halloween welcomes visitors at the Denver Zoo Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
1996 - Rochester, MN - 30 F High
On Halloween in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1996, the high temperature scraped just 30 F, tying a record set in 1917 as the coldest Halloween ever. The low dipped down to a frigid 16 F. With minimal daylight warming, the autumn leaves crunched under people's feet like brittle bones, and even midday felt more like the heart of winter than an evening for trick-or-treating.
2024 - Corsicana, Texas - 99 F High
On Halloween 2024, Corsicana, south of Dallas, recorded a blistering high of 99 F, shattering the previous record high for the date of 89 F set in 1950. The swelter marked one of the most anomalous late-October warm spells, driven in part by a strong ridge of high pressure over Texas and Oklahoma during much of the month.
