It may have seemed more like a trick than a treat, but for many across the East Coast, a 2011 nor'easter ushered in a white Halloween. Snow began falling in record amounts on Oct. 29, 2011, and interrupted the candy-reaping plans of some ghouls and goblins as trees began to snap under the crushing weight of the snow. Some cities, such as Hartford, Conn., and Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., canceled Halloween festivities [source: Associated Press]
About 3 million people who lived in areas impacted by the storm were left without power for days, thanks to power lines brought down by heavy ice and snow. Some of those without electricity lived by candlelight and storing perishables outside in the cold for up to a week. Not surprisingly to those who attempted to shovel sidewalks, at least 20 cities set snowfall records during the nor'easter.
Snow wasn't the only moisture coming down, though. Rain-turned-ice transformed roadways and pedestrian walkways into skating rinks, aided by winds of up to 69 miles per hour [source: Hart]. By the time the storm had passed on Nov. 1, 2011, more than 20 people had been killed as a result -- and the storm had cemented a weather-related record. The multibillion-dollar disaster of 2011 Halloween Nor'Easter became the 14th such storm of 2011, soundly beating the 2008 annual record of nine similarly expensive weather-related catastrophes [source: Masters].