Dear Tom,
My husband likes to say that it "always rains on Halloween." I know that is not true, but
how many times has it rained on Halloween in the past 50 years?
E. Howard
Dear E. Howard,
Your husband is exaggerating, but there have been quite a few rainy Halloweens in the
last half century. Chicago climatologist Frank Wachowski noted that since 1958 at
least some rain (trace of more) had fallen on 27 of the past 50 Halloweens(54 percent).
The last two Halloweens here have been dry, but most recently rain fell 2005 and in
2003. In 1994 the city experienced its rainiest Halloween on record when 2.26 inches of
wind-driven rain soaked the area. Before midnight some western suburbs even reported
some snow. That rainstorm produced tragic consequences when 68 people perished in
a plane crash near Roselawn, Ind., a result of severe icing.
