Halloween will feel like December after 30 degree temperature drop in East

By Mary Gilbert, CNN Meteorologist

(CNN) — Millions across the US will be reaching for extra layers this Halloween as temperatures fall to “scary” levels for October.

A push of bone-chilling air will dive south out of Canada and overspread much of the US by Tuesday, sending temperatures plummeting in its wake, with a few exceptions.

Portions of the West Coast and Florida will be the only areas of the contiguous US to avoid goosebumps on Halloween as the December-like air takes hold.

The pattern change will be quite a shock in parts of the East where temperatures flip from unseasonable weekend warmth to unseasonable early week chill – a difference of over 30 degrees in many locations.

Philadelphia and Washington, DC, climbed solidly into the 80s over the weekend but will struggle to make it out of the low 50s by Tuesday afternoon.

Temperatures for much of the East and parts of the South on Tuesday will fall nearly 10 degrees short of what’s normal for the end of October. It’ll feel more like early December from Burlington, Vermont, to Atlanta.

The chilly conditions began in earnest over the weekend across much of the central US and will remain in place through at least Tuesday.

In Dallas, the high temperature will be in the 50s on Tuesday – nearly 20 degrees below normal – and will feel more like late December than October.

Temperatures in the Rockies will begin a slow rebound on Tuesday from the weekend’s teeth-chattering cold, but conditions will generally remain quite chilly for late October.

Just like a carved pumpkin, this cold won’t last forever. Chilly air will persist across the northern tier of the US for much of the week, but the South and much of the central US will trend back toward normal before the weekend.

While many trick-or-treaters will have to bundle up, at least most won’t get wet.

Tuesday will be dry across much of the contiguous US. A few snow showers will develop across portions of the Midwest. The first snow of the season could arrive in Chicago on Tuesday, but very little accumulation is expected.

Elsewhere, a storm off the mid-Atlantic coast will bring showers and some steady rain from portions of the Carolinas up the coast to southern New Jersey on Tuesday.

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