Connecticut gets ready for ‘widespread frost’ early Wednesday as fall weather finally arrives

Get your plants in and your jackets out. After a warm October, the first widespread frost of the season is finally coming to Connecticut, starting late Tuesday night.

People in Hartford County can expect frost “on the expired Halloween pumpkin” by early Wednesday, said Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist at Western Connecticut State University’s Connecticut Weather Center.

The frost may make daily appearances through Sunday morning, Lessor said.

Some spots, including places in Litchfield County — known as the Ice Box of Connecticut — already had frost. But most of the state has not.

“You usually expect to see it in mid-October” in Hartford, Lessor said. But it was exceptionally warm.

The average temperature at Bradley International Airport last month was 57.4, which was 4.4 degrees above normal. Lessor said it was the 9th warmest October on record.

But overnight this week, Connecticut will feel temperatures ranging from the mid-20s to the low 30s, he said.

Daytime highs will range from the mid-to-upper 40s in Litchfield County to the low-to-mid-50s elsewhere.

The cold front is coming Tuesday, Lessor said. There’s a slight chance of showers, or a sprinkle of rain, Tuesday afternoon, Election Day.

Then there’s the other “S” word.

There will be a lot of clouds around Thursday night into Friday, Lessor said, “where you possibly could get a few flurries.”

Christine Dempsey may be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.