All Snows Day?

Three years ago today, a freak winter storm dumped six inches of snow in northern New Jersey and maimed thousands of trees, knocking out my power for three days. Two years ago today, Hurricane Sandy struck the entire state, knocking out my power for six days, and maiming a lot more than just the trees.  You can go back to my archives for October and November of 2011 and 2012 to read about both.

One year ago today . . . nothing.  Just another day at the office.  Today the weather is sunny here, cloudy there, mild throughout.  Halloween will not be ruined.  But for some people, All Saints' Day, November 1, may be a little difficult to get through.  There's a chance of snow in parts of the Northeast.  There has even been the possibility of some snow in New Jersey for that day, though with each passing day and each re-tuning of the forecast, whatever snowflakes so fall will be snow showers in Sussex County.  The rest of us in New Jersey will see rain, and the temperatures for Saturday are expected to be a little bit warmer than previously thought.  It will be cold this weekend, though, with windy conditions on Sunday.

I know I sound like a grouch, but bear in mind that, where I live, the time around Halloween has become something to dread.  I mentioned that nothing happened one year ago today, but on November 1 of last year, we still had to deal with a storm, and even though it was neither another autumn snowstorm nor another Sandy, it still had its ample share of wind and rain.  Also, the fact that it hit when it did made some of us start to wonder if this time of year is more trick than treat.  We in New Jersey may get off easy this time (relatively speaking), but climate change may make Halloween  time an annual occurrence for weather as scary as the day itself.