November weather: “witch storms” and more

November can be a dynamic weather month as the transition between autumn and winter is already well underway and this means that there are often different weather conditions each year.

Here are a few things we're paying attention to, starting with a scary-sounding nickname for a type of storm.

In November, the Midwest can experience infamous “witch” storms. No, this is not an indication that Halloween will be postponed until the new month. It refers to the “Witches of November,” a term sometimes used to describe violent storms in the Midwest that had an infamous history in both early November and late October.

Winds from these storms often cause tree damage and power outages. The storms also pose a great danger to shipping on the Great Lakes. One of the most famous witch storms sank a huge iron ore ship named Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in November 1975.

These storms form in the fall due to increasing north-south temperature contrasts across the country, which contribute to the formation of stronger low pressure systems. The stronger they are, the stronger the winds can be.

Many in the Midwest, Northeast and lower elevations of the West are experiencing accumulating snow for the first time. The average first measurable snow (defined as at least 0.1 inch) typically falls in November for many cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and lower elevations of the West.

Cities that traditionally receive the first snow of the season in November include Boston (November 29th), Chicago (November 18th), Cleveland (November 10th), Pittsburgh (November 17th) and Salt Lake City (November 17th). . November). . 8).

Another unique aspect of November is that lake effect snow typically becomes more active in the Great Lakes.

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November ushers in a cloudier season. It's typically the cloudiest month of the year in parts of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, including the Twin Cities and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to climatologist Brian Brettschneider. In other parts of the Midwest and Northeast, cloud cover peaks in December, but all the gloom begins in November.

An average November sky is at least 70% cloudy around the Great Lakes, Interior Northeast, and Pacific Northwest.

Larger outbreaks can occur in the fall when warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meets the increasingly strong cold fronts and jet stream winds that typically sweep across the country. This is generally the same constellation we often see in the spring.

Most often, these fall tornado outbreaks occur in the Deep South, where warm, moist air is more common, but sometimes they can spread further north.

(​MORE: Recent years have shown that tornadoes pose a danger in fall and winter)

Hurricane season is officially coming to an end. November is the final month of the Atlantic hurricane season, but both the number of named storms and the risk to the U.S. are much lower than at the start of fall.

The 2022 hurricane season was unusual: Hurricane Nicole made landfall in Florida on November 10th. It was the first hurricane to hit the U.S. in November since Kate hit the Panhandle in 1985.

There have been some devastating November storms in Central America in recent years. Two Category 4 hurricanes — Eta, then Iota — hit Nicaragua just 13 days apart in November 2020, within 15 miles of each other.

The dry season begins in Florida, while the rainy season increases on the west coast: Florida residents are excited about the start of the dry season in November. Florida typically dries out in late October and stays dry until spring when cold fronts return.

This does not mean that Florida remains completely dry, but the amount of precipitation is significantly less than during the rainy season.

November marks the intensification of the rainy season on the west coast.

For Portland, Oregon and Seattle, November sees more rainfall on average than any other month.

California's rainy season also typically increases in November as the jet stream gradually shifts south.

Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist at Weather.com for over 10 years, having started his career at The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.