MANHATTAN, Kan. – Around Halloween time, the weather in Kansas can be either a trick or a treat, according to climatologist Mary Knapp. 

“We would normally expect highs in the 60s and lows in the mid 30s to around 40, with moisture about a third of the time,” said Knapp, who is the state climatologist of Kansas. “For a treat, we sometimes see highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s and 50s, and no moisture -- perfect weather for fall festivals.”

The trick, said Knapp, who runs the Kansas Weather Data Library, based at Kansas State University, comes in the form of an early winter storm. From Tribune to Manhattan to Winfield, Halloween has sometimes seen high temperatures only in the 30s with lows as low as 12 degrees.

On Halloween 1991, for example, Manhattan saw a high of 35 degrees and a low of 21. Tribune had a high of 18 degrees.  Even Winfield in southern Kansas registered only 36 degrees for a high.

That Halloween’s snow, ranging from almost 4 inches in Tribune to a trace in Winfield, was the final trick of a scary Halloween storm, Knapp said.

Information about Kansas weather is available on the Weather Data Library Web site: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/wdl/ . “Weather Wonders” audio reports are available on the K-State Research and Extension News Media Web site at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/. 

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