31 October 2023
It’s scary but true: Halloween 2023 is officially one of the snowiest on record to haunt the Twin Cities.
Overnight, the season’s first measurable snowfall event brought a frightful 2.7 inches of the white stuff to the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport — with 1.8 inches of it falling on Tuesday.
The snow began falling at the airport at about 9 p.m. on Monday and had mostly wrapped up by the time morning commuters had slipped and slid to their destinations on Tuesday.
Because the official daily snow depth — the amount of snow on the ground — is measured at the airport at 7 a.m. by the National Weather Service, the Twin Cities has now tied with Oct. 31, 1905 for a depth record of 2 inches.
But what about the Halloween blizzard of 1991?
Those record-breaking Oct. 31 flakes — all 8.2 inches of them — started flying later in the day, the weather service notes (with many more falling in subsequent days).
Scary commute
Early Tuesday, the metro looked the scariest for commuters: The Minnesota State Patrol reported 181 crashes — nine with injuries, zero fatalities — from midnight through 9 a.m. In addition, a state patrol spokesperson noted, there were 121 vehicle spinouts, with some going off the roads, and 13 jack-knifed semis.
The plows were out and about, but …
“Not a lot for plows to push around, but we have been applying salt and brine to help clear highways,” said Anne Meyer, spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, in an email on Tuesday morning. “There were some slick spots during the morning commute — especially on traditional trouble spots like ramps, bridges, overpasses and intersections.
“Road conditions will continue to improve as the flurries stop and the temperatures warm up,” Meyer wrote. “Road temperatures are in our favor this time of year. Even on a cloudy day, we’ll see the surface temps get above the air temperature during the day — which will really help improve conditions as well. Crews will keep working until all highways are back in the green (clear).”
Snow totals
On Tuesday afternoon, the weather service updated its storm total snowfall measurements for climate sites:
2.7 inches for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
2.5 inches for Eau Claire, Wis. (as of 9 a.m.)
1.3 inches for the Chanhassen office of the National Weather Service
In addition, climate observers reported a range of snowfall totals over 24 hours on Monday and Tuesday in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin, including these as of Tuesday afternoon:
• 5.7 inches in Mora.
• 4.1 inches in Coon Rapids.
• 3.3 inches in Mendota Heights.
• 3.1 inches in Bayport.
• 2.8 inches in Woodbury.
• 2.8 inches in Inver Grove Heights.
• 2.7 inches in Roseville.
• 2.6 inches in White Bear Lake.
• 2.2 inches in St. Paul Park.
• Between 2 to 2.5 inches in St. Paul.
• 1.8 inches in Spooner, Wis.
Check more totals at the weather service’s snow map at weather.gov/source/crh/snowmap.html?sid=mpx.
Bundle up
Even with the snow wrapping up on Tuesday morning and the wind gusts subsiding by afternoon, it is not expected to be a comfortable evening to head out in search of candy after the sun sets at 6:02 p.m. The predicted temperature at sunset in St. Paul is near freezing, the weather service reports, or about 30 to 31 degrees.
“Anyone trick or treating should consider extra layers,” said Ryan Dunleavy, meteorologist at the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service, on Tuesday morning.
Wind chills could fall into the 20s by evening in the Twin Cities, and as low as the mid- to upper teens outside of the metro, so hand and feet warmers might help trick-or-treaters stay out longer.
From the 20s to the 80s
This year’s snow and cold really isn’t typical for Halloween.
“It is more common for the daily high on Halloween to be in the 60s than in the 30s,” the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported in its Halloween Climatology Report.
The warmest Halloween on record was 83 degrees in 1950, the DNR reports, with the coldest coming in at 26 degrees in 1873.
And snow?
“In spite of the 1991 Halloween Blizzard,” the report states, “measurable snow on Halloween is about as rare as getting a full-sized candy bar in your trick-or-treat bag.”
Here are the top totals that fell on the calendar day of Halloween, according to date from the DNR and the weather service:
• 1991: 8.2 inches.
• 2023: 1.8 inches.
• 1932: 1.4 inches.
• 1884: 0.6 inches.
• 1995: 0.5 inches.
• 1954: 0.4 inches.
• 1885: 0.2 inches.
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