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Not surprisingly, weather conditions on October 31st can vary dramatically from one year to the next in south central Nebraska. Just in the past 30 years, high temperatures in Grand Island have ranged from 26° to 77°, and lows have ranged from 13° to 54°! This story features a wealth of Halloween weather and climate information focused specifically on Grand Island, where October weather records date back 130 years to 1895.
Temperatures: According to the entire period of record, the warmest Halloween featured 82° in 1915, while the coldest low was 12° in 1923. Only 27-of-130 Halloweens on record (21%) have featured high temperatures of 70+° (most recently 75° in 2022). On the cold end of the thermometer, only 25-of-130 on record (19%) have seen low temperatures of 25°-or-colder (most recently 14° in 2023). In recent years, a somewhat unusual and somewhat "spooky" trend has developed: Halloween 2024 was the 8th IN A ROW to feature a high temperature AT LEAST 19º colder/warmer than the year before (and alternating between colder/warmer each time!).
Precipitation/Snowfall: As for precipitation, measurable daily amounts of 0.01" have been recorded on Halloween in 21-of-130 years...only 16% of the time. Measurable Halloween snow has been even rarer, with only four instances on record (although one of these was only eight years ago in 2017). However, one snow event 34 years ago REALLY stood out above the rest: the significant winter storm of 1991! Specifically in Grand Island, 8.8" of snow piled up on the 31st alone, and a storm-total amount of 12.0" fell between Oct. 30-Nov. 1! The high temperature in Grand Island on Halloween 1991 was only 23° (the coldest on record)!
**2024 Halloween Recap for Grand Island (A Remarkably "NORMAL" Day) **
Staying true to what has become an increasingly "eerie" recent trend, Halloween 2024 was the 8th IN A ROW to feature a high temperature AT LEAST 19º colder/warmer than the year before (and alternating between colder/warmer each time!). More specifically, the afternoon high temperature on Halloween 2024 at Central Nebraska Regional Airport reached a very seasonable 57°...or 21° warmer than Halloween 2023. The morning low temperature of 35° was also right on pace with long-term averages. Adding to the "not too bad" feel of the day, skies were overall mostly sunny and winds were seasonably-light at mainly 10-15 MPH during the daytime and evening. Technically, the first few hours of the calendar day (between midnight and pre-sunrise) started out cloudy and moderately-windy behind a departing weather system (gusts 25-35 MPH out of the northwest), but these winds eased noticeably before daybreak.
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Halloween Normals/Extremes for Grand Island (1895-2024):
| Grand Island NE | High Temp | Low Temp | Precip |
| 30-Year Climate "NORMALS" (1991-2020) | 58° | 34° | 0.04" |
| 10-Year AVERAGES (2015-2024) | 56.2° | 31.7° | 0.01" |
| Grand Island All-Time Halloween Records (Since 1895) |
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| Top 5 Warmest Highs | Top 5 Coldest Lows | Top 5 Wettest | Top 5 Snowiest |
| 82° (1915) | 12° (1923) | 0.79" (1991) | 8.8" (1991) |
| 81° (1990, 1933) | 13° (2019) | 0.60" (1920) | 0.9" (2017) |
| 80° (1944) | 14° (2023/1925) | 0.42" (1902) | 0.8" (1993) |
| 79° (1950) | 15° (1993) | 0.40" (1979) | 0.2" (1929) |
| 77° (2016) | 17° (1991) | 0.30" (1929) | Trace (1979, 1941) |
| When is the last time _______ happened on Halloween in Grand Island? |
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| Halloween Over THE LAST 30 YEARS...Since 1995 |
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The 10 Most Recent Halloweens in Grand Island (2015-2024):
| Date | High Temp | Low Temp | Precip | Snow | Weather Basics |
| 10/31/2015 | 68° | 41° | 0.00" | 0.0" | sunny afternoon, breezy NW wind |
| 10/31/2016 | 77° | 47° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 5th-warmest Halloween on record! |
| 10/31/2017 | 31° | 19° | 0.08" | 0.9" | cold, daytime snow! |
| 10/31/2018 | 61° | 33° | 0.00" | 0.0" | partly cloudy, light wind |
| 10/31/2019 | 42° | 13° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 2nd-coldest Halloween low temp! |
| 10/31/2020 | 69° | 42° | 0.00" | 0.0" | warm, breezy NW wind |
| 10/31/2021 | 46° | 39° | 0.00" | 0.0" | chilly and cloudy, but dry |
| 10/31/2022 | 75° | 34° | 0.00" | 0.0" | warm+sunny, SSW wind mainly 5-15 MPH |
| 10/31/2023 | 36° | 14° | 0.00" | 0.00" | mostly sunny, but chilly |
| 10/31/2024 | 57° | 35° | 0.00" | 0.00" | mainly sunny...8TH-STRAIGHT YEAR with high temp at least 19º different than year before! |
| 10-Yr Averages | 56.2° | 31.7° | 0.01" | 0.1" |
For more local climate information, check out the following website:
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