PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – This Halloween could be one for the record books – literally!

THE weather bookletthat’s to say.

It’s warm and kids won’t have to worry about putting a jacket or hoodie under their costumes.

The upward trend is real and has been going on for years, so kids love showing off their costumes.

Kids who went out for Halloween 1993 can now go out tonight with their own kids, the big difference being that they went out looking for candy in six inches of snow.

“There will still be cold Halloweens for a while with the track we’re on, but those colder Halloweens will become less frequent,” said Climate Central meteorologist Shel Winkley.

Compared to that memorable Halloween 31 years ago, Winkley said this Halloween is happening “about 10 to 15 degrees above what is typical.”

This year, however, is an exception compared to the last 50 Halloweens in Pittsburgh.

“We saw our nighttime temperatures warm on average by about 3.6 degrees,” he said. “That’s pretty significant over this time period and puts our average fall nights at around 45 degrees.”

However, it’s not just Halloween, Winkley said more than half of our fall in Pittsburgh is now expected to be above average.

He said we went from 40 to 50 above average fall days and yes he said greenhouse gases were to blame due to the general blanket forming.

“This is now the case for our planet,” he explained. “It keeps our temperatures high, and it makes all of our seasons warmer, especially fall.”

Along with fall, Winkley explained that winter is getting shorter on both sides and the heat of summer is lasting longer.

Winkley said their studies at Climate Central indicated that our Halloweens would remain cozy, but not that cold, almost spooky fall feeling we’re so accustomed to.

The impact is not limited to temperature. He said warming allows fall allergies to linger longer and keep bugs around longer. This is due to the fact that the first frosts are arriving later and later, which also causes more intense and localized rainstorms.

John Shumway

John Shumway joined KDKA in October 1988 as a general assignment reporter. During his years at KDKA, he served as morning and weekend news anchor and is currently one of the lead reporters on general assignment on the station’s 4, 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.