When Was Grand Rapids Earliest Snowfall?

It's been an unseasonably warm October, making trips to the apple orchard and corn maze even better. The weather has been about as good as it gets, with temps reaching into the 80s and 15 of the 19 days spent above 65°F. Sunny days like this make the fall colors look that much brighter, and it's been a real treat.

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So naturally, this made me think of times when October hasn't been this good. Grand Rapids has barely been near freezing so far this month, so I wanted to see the earliest in a year Grand Rapids has seen snowfall. Snow in October isn't unheard of, but it's been so warm that it feels like a far-off issue.

a close up of a branch with snow on it

A Snowy Start To October, 26 Years Ago

As it turns out, the turn of the century kicked off the cold season early. Looking through National Weather Service (NWS) data, I sorted monthly snowfall totals by year, dating back to 1920. Excluding years with trace amounts of snowfall, only 24 years have recorded snowfall in October.

READ MORE: Michigan’s First Frost Has Arrived, Time to Bring Your Plants In

From there, I compared each year to find which had the earliest recorded snowfall date, as follows:

2000 (10/7), 2006 (10/12), 1972 (10/18), 1930 (10/18), 1991 (10/18), 1989 (10/19), 1976 (10/19), 1974 (10/19), 1925 (10/20), 1992 (10/20), 1987 (10/21), 1962 (10/24), 2001 (10/25), 1980 (10/25), 1988 (10/25), 1936 (10/26), 1967 (10/27), 1997 (10/27), 1954 (10/29), 1923 (10/30), 2019 (10/30), 2017 (10/31), 1932 (10/31), 2023 (10/31)

NWS / Canva

In 2000, 0.1 inches of snow fell on October 7th, the earliest date since 1920 with recorded snowfall. 2017, 1932, and 2023 all had snowfall on the 31st, just barely making the list. If things stay as they are, we won't have to worry about snow in October or well into November. Fingers crossed.