430PM

Boston Area Weather Update…

I hope you all enjoyed what you could of the unseasonably mild Valentine’s Day. Temperatures reached or exceeded 50 in much of the area, but this is about to come to an abrupt end. A bank of clouds has rolled back across the sky from the WNW during the past hour, along the leading edge of a very cold airmass that will charge into the region tonight. A few rain showers may occur in the next couple hours ahead of the very cold air. Once the front passes, other than an isolated snow shower, expect dry but much colder and very windy conditions to quickly establish themselves tonight! Temperatures will plunge through the 40s, 30s, 20s, and into the teens during the night. Wind shifting to northwest will increase to 15-30 mph but gusts will exceed 40 mph. Wind chill values will be near zero by dawn.

Tuesday, except a bright day with 100% sunshine, but a strong northwest wind and arctic air will combine to make high temperatures in the lower to middle 20s feel more like single numbers & teens. Wind chills may even drop below zero at times. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph can be expected!

Winds will settle down gradually Tuesday night, and under a clear sky, temperatures which were only near 20 by the end of the day Tuesday will drop to around 10 during the overnight hours. If the wind went completely calm, some areas outside of urban centers and away from the coast would head for zero. But it looks like enough wind will blow to keep the air mixed up. The wind will make it feel like zero anyway, so a calm wind and air temperature of zero would probably feel better than a windy zero!

Wednesday, partly cloudy skies are expected as warmer air begins to move back in above us, and a slight warming trend begins at the surface as well. Highs will climb into the 30s with a lighter wind from the west, mostly around 10 mph.

A more genuine warmup is expected Thursday & Friday with highs in the 40s Thursday and probably getting into the lower 50s in many areas on Friday (similar to today). A southwest wind will begin to freshen and may gust over 25 mph by Friday. These days will see some decent snowmelt, but not too fast, so flooding will not be a problem.

You know even the next warmup cannot last forever, since it’s still mid February. And this is true. A cold front will cross the region Friday night with a few rain showers, and Saturday will be a partly cloudy, windy day. It still be cooler Saturday, with highs in the lower 40s, but a secondary front will cross the region at night with a possible snow shower, and Sunday should be a bright & colder day with high temps in the lower 30s.

The next blog will update conditions expected for this week and take a peek into next week!