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Hi everyone! We are hoping to move down to the Raleigh area from NY in the next year or so, and I am always looking for info about the area. My favorite time of year in NY is fall, so I started wondering what fall would be like in North Carolina. Sometimes in NY it is too cold to wear your costume without a jacket at Halloween, and Thanksgiving can be brutally cold. With autumn fast approaching, I'd love to hear about the weather on these holidays, and how it effects the way you celebrate. (For example, are you still wearing capris & tank tops on Thanksgiving?) I think it would be fun to hear! Thanks!
it's usually too hot to wear something over our costumes at halloween. but then again it can be cold. i remember some christmases being in shorts. generally mild falls with beautiful crisp days where you need a sweater or light jacket at the start of the day and then AC around noon.
We have had a brutally hot summer so I'm really looking forward to crisp days in about 2 months.
You'll probably wear a tank top your first year at Christmas but it only takes a few years to go soft!
For Halloween it's almost always warm enough to not need a jacket and in November it's mostly the upper 50's during the day. The winter is the strangest time because while it can get cold (relatively) it rarely stays that way for long and you can get quite warm days in between cold spells.
October is when the glorious "fall weather" happens here, but then we get more hot days afterwards, often around Halloween. And often in November, even around Thanksgiving. I remember raking leaves in shorts a few times.
Christmas is usually around the 40s--only VERY rarely do we have a white Christmas in Raleigh (I grew up here and have NEVER seen one because the two times it snowed on Christmas, I was out of town).
There are any number of sites you can Google (I'll leave that to you) to get a details climate report of the weather in Raleigh (or any city)--also, here is City-Data's own page on Raleigh, which has climate as one of the measures.
Halloween is generally comfortable. It can be a little chilly, but nothing long sleeves won't handle.
Thanksgiving is about the same, but maybe a tad cooler. We normally have our family get together outside, if that tells you anything. Only one year so far (in about 12) has it been really chilly on Thanksgiving.
Christmas is just a little cooler, maybe 40s or 50s. I've only seen one white Christmas in my entire (40+ year) life. Although, mind you, we did have a major ice storm back in 2001 (or 2002) two weeks before Christmas. Generally though it's no problem.
Honestly, I wear shorts here the majority of the year, except maybe mid-January or so. We've even had New Years Day picnics outside.
The most difficult thing for people to get used to here is that it can be cold for about 4 days, or a week, then the next week it will be 20 degrees warmer. And, by cold I mean it is 45 degrees for a couple of days, then it is back up close to 70! The fall is just unpredictable here, which is fun!
And yes, I usually end up sweating after walking my kids through the neighborhood for halloween, they have worn long sleeves, but never a jacket
Halloween is better in NY, at least in western NY. People decorate their homes a lot more there, seem to have more parties, and generally, just celebrate more than here.
I don't know if it's because historically NC has been part of the Bible Belt or what. But it's not the same thing.
Regarding weather, what we used to call "Indian summer" lasts through to mid-November here. It's nice. I remember seeing people (guys) at work (one of those "best places to work" places) still wearing shorts and flip slops, but that's a bit much. By November, it's usually time for big boy pants.
I do remember attending the Christmas Parade in Raleigh right after Thanksgiving a couple times, and it was about 72 degrees.
I'm not sure where you are moving here from (what part of NY)...I didn't really find anything different about Halloween here than on Long Island. One of our neighbors had a pumpkin carving party....the biggest difference on Halloween was that on Long Island most trick or treating was done by 7 p.m. and down here no one goes out till it gets dark. A lot of people in our neighborhood put their firepits in their driveways and toast marshmallows etc while they wait for trick or treaters. My kids had a great time.
We've only been here a year so I can't speak to the weather every year, but even on LI, I remember very few really cold Halloweens. Tgiving....I think it rained this past year? This past Christmas it snowed overnight and we woke up to a white day-after-Christmas (while you guys were getting a blizzard in NY).
National and Local Weather Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report has historical averages by date. And is guaranteed to be more accurate than the perception of a bunch of strangers on the internet. (Why people use this kind of site for something that is essentially data-based always puzzles me.)
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