Could Illinois See A Big Snowstorm In October? It’s Possible

When you think of October, you think of Halloween with costumes, decorations, haunted houses; and cooler fall weather with beautiful foliage. You're definitely trying not to think about snow.

But snow in October in Illinois and Iowa isn't abnormal. As a matter of fact, seeing snow on the ground in October is kind of common. Sure, it's typically not a lot if any at all, but it's not rare. What is rare is having a snowstorm that dumps inches of snow like we're about to celebrate Christmas - not Halloween.

However, it's only been 5 years since we saw almost a half-foot of snow dumped on the Quad Cities in the snowiest Halloween on record. Is it possible for Halloween 2024?

Snow In October? It's More Common In the Quad Cities Than You Think

I was thinking the other day about the last time we saw snow on the ground for Halloween. No, I don't wish that on my worst enemy, but I know it's happened. What I forgot about was just how recent it was.

Meteorologist Kyle Kiel reminded us on social media just how common snow is in October. In the Quad Cities, we average about 0.3 inches of snow in October every year, according to the National Weather Service.

While that doesn't sound like a ton, let's go back to 2019 when we saw almost 6 inches of snow.

That's right, the snowiest Halloween on record was 5 years ago. Moline at the Quad Cities International Airport saw 4.7 inches and the Davenport airport recorded 4.5 inches of snow.

In total, October 2019 saw 5.8 inches of snow which made it the 2nd-snowiest October on record. The snowiest? 1967 when 6.6 inches of snow fell that month.

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But will we get that weather this year?

Warm Temperatures, Low Precipitation Expected For October

While we are still in the early part of October, things could change. But looking at the 8-14 day outlook from NOAA, it doesn't look like October will bring a big snowstorm.

Even Kyle Kiel says in his forecasting that long-range patterns support warmer-than-normal temperatures and lower than normal precipitation. Love that forecast!