BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – The WAFB weather team is posting an initial warning for Thursday (Halloween).

The warning isn’t so much a reflection of a concern for severe weather, but instead an additional warning that rain could impact some of your Halloween plans.

After weeks of mostly dry weather, the forecast offers some welcome relief from the developing drought.

Unfortunately, the timing isn’t the best, as rain chances are expected to peak during Halloween. The culprit behind the increased rain chances will be an approaching cold front, although the front is not expected to actually pass through our area.

Thursday may start with a few isolated showers, but numerous scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected by the afternoon. The big question: what about trick-or-treating? The outlook for Thursday evening is mixed, although I am cautiously optimistic that it will not be a full-blown outbreak.

The GRAF model (as of Tuesday evening) shows some significant breaks in rain developing around 5-6pm as trick-or-treating gets underway in most areas.

In contrast, the European remains more aggressive, both in terms of rain duration and totals.

For now, I have about a 50% chance of rain at 5 p.m., which will slowly decrease during the rest of the evening. Confidence is much higher regarding temperatures, with a mild evening expected in the area.

So what should you do at this point? I would recommend sticking with trick-or-treating plans for now, with a lean toward the evening not being a complete cop-out. However, understand that even if it isn’t a full-blown outbreak, rain could still be in the mix. Make sure you have a “Plan B” ready in case it starts to rain around the time you head out with your kids.

Looking ahead, good rain chances will continue until Friday, before drier weather returns for the weekend. And don’t forget to “fall back” this weekend, as daylight saving time officially ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday. Set the clock back an hour before Saturday. It is also a good time to replace the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

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