A record-setting nor’easter made Halloween look more like Christmas across the Northeast a decade ago, leaving millions in the dark and leading some to rename the month “Snowtober.”
The following written content by Brian Lada
Carving pumpkins is a Halloween tradition for many families, but the jack-o’-lantern masterpieces left outside were buried under snow 10 years ago when residents across the Northeast found themselves scrambling for snow shovels as a monster storm walloped the region.
The early-season nor’easter, called “Snowtober” and “Oktoberblast,” evolved into a nightmare as it left long-term power outages in areas that took a direct hit by Hurricane Irene just two months prior.
This wasn’t the first time in recent years that snow fell around Halloween. In 1993, snow accumulated across the Ohio Valley through parts of the mid-Atlantic, forcing some masqueraders to dress up in snowsuits rather than costumes, at least for those who braved the elements to go trick-or-treating.
However, the few inches that accumulated at the end of October 1993 paled in comparison to the nor’easter that stunned millions in 2011.
The worst of the storm in the eastern U.S. transpired two days before Halloween, but snow stuck around all the way into November from the mountains of northern Virginia through Maine.
Before the first flakes fell, meteorologists were already fearful of what could unfold. John LaCorte from the National Weather Service Office in State College, Pennsylvania, called the developing weather pattern “very unusual.”
“It has all the look and feel of a classic midwinter nor’easter,” LaCorte explained to CBS News before the first snowflakes started to fall. “It’s going to be very dangerous.”
This prediction came to fruition on Saturday, Oct. 29, when all of the ingredients came together to create a significant snowstorm.
The heaviest snow fell over the interior Northeast, but accumulating snowfall was recorded in some of the biggest cities along the Interstate 95 corridor, including Boston, New York City and Baltimore.
Central Park measured 2.9 inches of snow, making it the snowiest October day on record in New York City history, a record that still stands.
More than 10 times this amount fell farther inland, including the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. Peru, Massachusetts, was buried under 32 inches of snow, the highest snow total across the region. Other parts of the Berkshires as well as the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and the Catskill Mountains of New York measured more than a foot of snow to start the season. Read more from AccuWeather.
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