Snowiest October on Record?

It won’t take much. Measurable snow has only occurred in the greater Hartford area 3 times since 1905. 1.7″ in 1979, 0.4″ in 1972, and 0.1″ in 1925. In Bridgeport measurable snow occurred only once, 0.5″ in 1979.

The first snowstorm >6″ in the greater Hartford area occurred November 11-12, 1987 when 7.6″ of snow fell during the Veteran’s Day storm.

Our computer models still indicate the possibility for a slushy inch of snow this evening in the higher elevations. In the lower elevations it’s conceivable someone picks up a coating on grassy surfaces but it doesn’t look like a big deal. That said temperatures will drop below freezing statewide which could mean pockets of black ice later tonight.

As I’ve been thinking the storm that some wrote off as one going out to sea is heading back toward the coast for the weekend. The reliable Euro model plus a consensus in our ensembles have shown a westerly track was much more likely than some models were showing.
The operational GFS has jumped on the winter storm bandwagon for the weekend and we’re going to have to watch this storm like a hawk. Even with 6″ of snow we could be talking about damage to trees and power lines with leaves still on the trees.

It’s too early to get into specifics but it’s possible this could turn into a freak winter storm that hasn’t occurred in recent memory. If the storm tracks too far northwest rain would be more likely than snow and if it’s too far southeast precipitation would be light.