Soon, the witches, ghosts, vampires and (hopefully) sea otter pups of Vancouver will take to the streets.
As trick-or-treaters head out across the region it seems the weather will play along, for the most part, but party-goers heading home late at night might face a different situation.
Environment Canada meteorologist Ken Dosanjh says the late October's damp weather will remain for the next little while in Metro Vancouver, but it's not expected to be too bad in the early evening of Oct. 31, aka Halloween.
Wet Wednesday
First, the region has to get through a wet Wednesday.
"We have a frontal feature that's riding through the Island right now; that'll move over to the coast before pushing off around midnight," says Dosanjh.
A total of 8 to 15 mm is expected across Metro Vancouver, with northern neighbourhoods getting the lion's share of the rain.
Halloween evening forecast
"As precipitation eases off tonight, we'll also start to see some variable clouds," Dosanjh explains. "It looks like the morning will be generally unsettled."
On Oct. 31, the high for the day will be around 10 C, and the overnight low will drop to around 7 C.
There will be a chance of light showers throughout the day on Thursday, but what does fall will be relatively insignificant. That pattern will hold through the early evening, he notes.
"From 5 to 7 p.m. it will be generally fine, more of a mix of sun and cloud," Dosanjh says. "Not much precipitation."
Sunset is at 5:53 p.m., which is when kids and families typically head out to trick-or-treat.
"If you get out early enough you can avoid wearing a rain jacket," he adds.
Weatherhood forecasts temperatures will still be sitting near 10 C as of 6 p.m. with a chance of showers under 10 per cent in central Vancouver neighbourhoods like Mount Pleasant, Kerrisdale, and False Creek.
That also holds for most of Metro Vancouver, from Ladner in Delta and Bridgeport in Richmond to North Vancouver's Deep Cove and Coquitlam's downtown to further east, like Langley or Port Kells in Surrey.
There will be an easterly breeze, "but nothing too extreme," Dosanjh adds.
Heavier rain expected late Halloween night
However, the weather will change later in the evening as a new, significant system arrives.
"As we move into the evening period; I'm talking 9 p.m. onward, we start to see this Gulf of Alaska low," the meteorologist says.
The low will bring a full day of rain for Friday.
"We're going to be in it for quite a bit," Dosanjh says. "We are noticing moderate precipitation over a 28-hour period."
It'll be wettest in the north; North Vancouver may even see a rain warning as predicted amounts could pass 50 mm over 24 hours.
"That's something we'll continue to watch for," Dosanjh says.
For most of Metro Vancouver, the forecast is for 20 to 40 mm of rain throughout the storm, which will leave Friday night. Areas in the south, like Delta, will see less. Highs of 10 C remain through the end of the week and into the weekend.
