A Rare October Snow? Actually…No

It turns out that a snowfall on Oct. 18 is not that unusual in western Pennsylvania. In fact, if the snow flies in Pittsburgh before midnight, it will be the third time an October snow has fallen on that date since recordkeeping began.

NWS Pittsburgh Twitter feed.

The National Weather Service has said that some light snow might fall tonight, which is Oct. 18, 2022. But there’s a better chance that a rain/snow turnover will happen after midnight. Meanwhile, temperatures throughout most of the region will be too warm for anything that hits the ground to remain by morning.

Nevertheless, it feels awfully early for snow. I have just started taking fall photos throughout the region, and I expect the peak of these photos to be this week.

Orange and yellow leaves flank the northern shoulder of U.S. Route 40, also known as the National Road, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in North Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania. Photo by Matt Saxton.

So, I got to thinking about it. I don’t remember a snowfall this early in western Pennsylvania. Has it ever snowed this early here? As it turns out, it has. And I wasn’t the first to notice.

NWS Pittsburgh Twitter feed.

Perhaps I need to check my Twitter feed more often. Not only did 1.8 inches fall on Oct. 18, 1972, in Pittsburgh, it repeated that event here in 1992. Although the later even produced just under an inch of snow. That jogged a memory. I do remember the Sunday, Oct. 18, 1992 snow. Here’s why.

An October Snow Memory

I was 15 in 1992, and was a member of Trinity High School’s marching band. We had been at a Bands of America regional competition the day before the brief snowfall. It was in Morgantown, West Virginia, which is about 40 miles south of the high school.

Saturday was mild, albeit it cool. At least during the day when the sun was shining brightly at West Virginia University’s Mountaineer Field. By night, the wind was picking up and stars fell under clouds. The temperature dropped from seasonable during the day to below the freezing mark. No snow fell before we arrived back in Washington, but there was just a coating when I woke up the next day.

If only all early snowfalls could be so memorable.

Still Not the Earliest Snow

Yet, those October snowfalls are not the earliest for Pittsburgh! You’d have to go back to Sept. 23, 1989, when just a trace was recorded along the Three Rivers. In fact, there are several days in October, epecially during the fourth week, when the most amount of snow for one day exceeds 2 inches. There were of course, other years, where it snowed on that date. Just not…several inches.

Check out the NWS Pittsburgh Records Climate Data for more details on snowfall records.


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