Snow-way! Ghoulish weather preempts Halloween

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Call it 'snow-tober.' Ghoulish weather has invaded the country with freezing cold and some of the earliest first snowfalls on record and it's not even Halloween! If you think that this cold freaky weather is confined to the northern United States, you're in for quite the surprise.

We'll call it the trick and treat. All of our area is about to be cursed or blessed with significantly cooler weather than has been observed over the last several weeks. In fact, our overnight low temperatures may exceed our coolest temperature so far this season (58°F) by thirteen to fifteen degrees. That means all of us are going to be in the mid and upper 40s by this weekend with highs barely getting out of the 60s.

If you love the cold weather, you're welcome. If you hate the cold weather, count your blessings. Many areas in the Midwest and southeast U.S. have just experienced their first freeze with more on the way.

Davenport, Iowa on Tuesday picked up 2.5 inches of snow! According to the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities, this is the fourth earliest snowfall on record for Dubuque. Even some of the big cities including Chicago picked up their first snowfall of the season. O'Hare International picked up a record trace of snowfall for the day.

Normally snow in Chicago isn't breaking news. I get that. But the fact that it happened on October 22nd is a huge deal. Chicago isn't alone. According to meteorologist Joe Bastardi, some areas in Ohio have beaten their first snowfall averages by a month!

Lake effect snow warnings are in effect for parts of upstate New York as well where upwards of a foot of snow is expected across the Adirondacks.

Frost and freeze advisories are up for a huge amount of real estate stretching from the Great Lakes to central Georgia.

Here in Florida, even we will be on the receiving end of the cold. Not only will we have beautiful skies but we'll have many areas dipping well into the 40s the next few nights with high temperatures barely cracking 70 the next few days.

It is so chilly across the country that even the pumpkins are left chattering their tooth. It'll be interesting to see how this pattern plays out heading into winter.