Forecasters scare up record-high temperatures for Halloween in the Northeast

The weather is forecast to be disguised as summer for Halloween in most of the Northeast.

As ghosts and goblins prepare to go trick-or-treating on Thursday, temperatures are expected to feel more like Labor Day than All Hallows' Eve as an autumnal U.S. hot spell continues.

Potential high temperature records for the last day of October are forecast to be broken in several cities in the Northeast.

In New York City, temperatures Thursday could possibly reach 80 degrees, which would set a new record for the day. Records are also expected to fall in Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., as those cities are also expected to breach the 80-degree mark.

Even the far Northeast will experience a warm Halloween as Burlington, Vermont, and Bangor, Maine, are forecast to heat up to 76 degrees. Down south, Charleston, South Carolina, could hit 84 degrees, while Raleigh, North Carolina, is forecast to get up to 81.

Temperatures in the Northeast are forecast to be around 30 degrees higher than last year's Halloween, when New York City, Philadelphia and Boston were in the low 50s.

The balmy weather, however, will be short-lived.

A strong cold front is expected to move through the Northeast on Friday afternoon, bringing an end to record heat.

For the New York City Marathon on Sunday, the high temperature for the day is forecast to be 57, according to the National Weather Service.

The cold front is also expected to bring chilly temperatures, rain and snow to parts of the Great Lakes and upper Midwest. A winter weather advisory issued for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan includes the chance of measurable snow.

Elsewhere in the nation, a cold front responsible for severe weather from Oklahoma to Illinois on Wednesday is forecast to move east, producing strong to severe storms from western Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, all the way to Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

As people across the Northeast were breaking out T-shirts and shorts amid record-breaking high temperatures this week, several inches of snow blanketed the mountaintops of Hawaii.

As firefighters in Colorado battled wildfires and meteorologists issued red-flag fire danger warnings, high elevations of Hawaii's Big Island resembled the Rocky Mountains in winter.

Several inches of snow blanketed the summits of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the tallest peaks in Hawaii and part of the state's Volcanoes National Park.

"Due to winter weather conditions, the summit is currently closed for both day and overnight use, and permits for Mauna Loa Summit Cabin are temporarily on hold," the Volcanoes National Park said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Meanwhile, in the actual Rockies, a major storm system moving in is expected to bring up to a foot of fresh snow. But elsewhere in Colorado, firefighters were dealing with what investigators suspect is a "human-caused" wildfire that spread to 166 acres near the town of Divide and was 80% contained on Wednesday.

The wintry weather expected for the Rockies was countered by record-breaking temperatures this week across a large part of the nation from Detroit, where it got up to 77 degrees on Wednesday, to Laredo, Texas, where the temperature was expected to hit 94, tying a daily record.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.