Halloween 2027 Trick-or-Treat Forecast
The weather from 5 to 9 pm on Sunday, October 31, when it gets dark, and where in the country it’s best to be a ghoul this year.
The trick-or-treat forecast opens on October 16, when Halloween comes within range of the forecast models. Until then, the safety notes and the storm history below are worth a read.
Halloween safety, weather edition
- Be seen. Carry a flashlight or glow stick and put reflective tape on costumes and treat bags; it lights up in headlights at dusk.
- Face paint beats masks. Masks can block vision and breathing. If you wear one, make sure the eye holes are big enough to see all around.
- Check the label. Look for “flame resistant” on costumes, wigs and beards — it means the material should stop burning quickly once away from a flame, not that it can’t catch fire.
- Mind the hem. Costumes short enough not to trip on, especially on wet leaves and in the dark.
- Pumpkins off the steps. Keep candlelit jack-o’-lanterns away from steps and doorways, where a costume can brush the flame — or light them with a battery candle.
- Treats wait for an adult. Nothing gets eaten until a grown-up has looked it over for tampering.
- Cold nights: layers under the costume, gloves for small hands, and a shorter route when it’s bitter.
- Rain: a poncho over the costume, and reflective tape on the poncho, not just underneath it.
- Thunder: when thunder roars, go indoors. Lightning strikes miles from the rain.
From the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Halloween safety alert and the National Weather Service. More in the survival guide.
When Halloween weather went wrong
1991: the Halloween Blizzard. Snow began in Duluth, Minnesota, on Halloween afternoon and didn’t stop until November 3: 36.9 inches at the airport, a state record for a single storm at the time.
2011: snow before the leaves fell. A nor’easter on October 29 dropped heavy, wet snow on trees still in full leaf across the Northeast, bringing down branches and power lines two days before Halloween. Central Park recorded 2.9 inches — the earliest inch of snow in its records.
2012: Halloween, postponed. Two days after Sandy came ashore, New Jersey’s governor signed an executive order moving Halloween to November 5, citing flooding, downed trees and power lines, and closed roads.
More Halloween: the Zombietober countdown calendar · today’s Zombie of the Day · the Survival Kit · Storm Watch. Sunset, dusk and the moon are calculated by Weather Zombie and checked against the US Naval Observatory.