The Strange Weather Folklore Hinting at a Snowy Halloween in Illinois

Do you remember Halloween 2019 when several inches of snow fell throughout the day in Rockford? I certainly do.

My kids came home from school that day and immediately built a snowman to greet trick-or-treaters that night. We used a jack-o-lantern as the snowman’s head, and I dressed as Santa instead of a witch to hand out candy that night:

It was amazing to me how a snow-covered ground ruined the spooky vibes that Halloween night, and it looks like we could see a repeat in 2025...if you believe old- wives' tales.

Popular Winter Weather Folklore

Living in Illinois typically means buying into old weather folklore like:

“If a cold August follows a hot July, It foretells a winter hard and dry.”

“If the first week in August is unusually warm, the coming Winter will be snowy and long.”

“As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens.”

Many Illinoisans have grown up learning that squirrels gathering nuts in a hurry each fall signals a bad winter ahead. Or that seeing wooly bear caterpillars with a thin orange band instead of a thick one means a bad winter is coming, but today I had my mind blown by a winter weather folklore I had never heard before.

Will Rockford See Snow on Halloween?

An Illinois meteorologist named Brian Gotter posted this nugget on social media, and it stopped me dead in my tracks when I saw it:

I don't remember if we Illinois experienced thunderstorms six weeks before Halloween in 2019, but I do know I will be incorporating a snow back up plan for my kids' Halloween costumes this year...just in case.