Massachusetts snow: Data lays bare earliest winters in Boston and beyond as snow looms

For several decades, there have been incidents of snow as early as October in Massachusetts

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This year is expected to yield a mild winter, but, many times in the past, Massachusetts has become snowed in as early as October.

According to The Weather Channel, most of the Northeast and Midwest typically does not receive snow until November or December. However, certain regions, including the Rockies, Northern Plains, northern Great Lakes and northern New England, can see snow as early as September or October. This has been the case for Massachusetts many times over the past several decades.

This year, Massachusetts is expected to have a mild winter that will be gentle and arid, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The U.S., overall, is slated to experience a typical to mild winter, the forecaster added.

As recently as 2020, Massachusetts residents saw snow as early as October, setting a new record for the earliest snowfall in Boston, according to the National Weather Service.

That year, major cities including Worcester, Amherst and Grafton saw a total of 6.5 inches of snow in the month of October, the weather agency reports.

The earliest recorded snowfall in the state occurred on Sept. 25, 1942. A few years later, an inch of snow fell in Plainfield on Oct. 1, 1946.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Extreme Weather Watch, these are all the times that it snows in October in the state of Massachusetts:

Boston

• Oct. 10, 1979: 0.2 inches
• Oct. 18, 2009: 0.1 inches
• Oct. 29, 2005: 1.1 inches
• Oct. 29, 2011: 0.4 inches
• Oct. 30, 2011: 0.6 inches
• Oct. 30, 2020: 4.3 inches

Worcester

• Oct. 8, 1988: 0.4 inches
• Oct. 10, 1979: 7.5 inches
• Oct. 13, 1934: 1.3 inches
• Oct. 15, 1961: 0.9 inches
• Oct. 16, 2009: 1.4 inches
• Oct. 18, 2009: 1.0 inches
• Oct. 20, 1926: 0.8 inches
• Oct. 21, 1964: 2.1 inches
• Oct. 23, 2002: 3.0 inches
• Oct. 23, 2003: 1.5 inches
• Oct. 24, 1960: 2.1 inches
• Oct. 25, 1960: 1.5 inches
• Oct. 26, 1962: 4.7 inches
• Oct. 27, 2011: 1.4 inches
• Oct. 29, 1963: 0.5 inches
• Oct. 29, 2011: 11.4 inches
• Oct. 30, 2000: 0.4 inches
• Oct. 30, 2011: 3.2 inches
• Oct. 30, 2020: 6.2 inches

Amherst

• Oct. 23, 2002: 0.5 inches
• Oct. 23, 2003: 0.2 inches
• Oct. 30, 2000: 0.5 inches
• Oct. 30, 2011: 6.5 inches

Berkshires

• Oct. 4, 1987, in Otis and Lanesboro
• Oct. 10, 1979, in Chester
• Oct. 23, 1969, in Adams