Friday March 17 2023 Forecast (7:09AM)

93 Comments

DAYS 1-5 (MARCH 17-21)

The trend is toward a quiet weather pattern as we move through the last few days of winter and welcome spring at the beginning of next week… :mrgreen: First, a warm front will cross the region today, parented by low pressure passing through the Great Lakes. A lot of clouds will accompany this feature, but it will be a rain-free day for the most part, with only a few light rain showers possible late in the day in areas north and west of Boston, and then a few more of those possible later tonight as a cold front swings through, passing offshore early Saturday morning. The air behind the cold front is not really that cold, so despite a developing gusty wind and dry weather on Saturday, it will be on the milder side. It won’t be until a secondary cold front comes through the region Saturday night or very early Sunday, possibly accompanied by a snow shower in northwestern reaches of the WHW forecast area, that we will be introduced to a little blast of cold air for the final full day of winter, fittingly, on Sunday, which will be chilly and windy, but dry. But we’re going to have a moderation in temperature just in time to welcome spring with the vernal equinox on Monday, and the first full day of the new season on Tuesday as high pressure sinks to the south of the region. After a cold start early Monday, a warm-up will commence, with continued fair weather.

TODAY: Mostly cloudy. A late-day rain shower possible central to northeastern MA and southern NH. Highs 46-53. Wind variable to SE 5-15 MPH, potentially higher gusts late-day.

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Rain showers possible. Lows 40-47. Wind SW 5-15 MPH, higher gusts.

SATURDAY: Sun and passing clouds. Highs 47-54. Wind W 10-20 MPH, higher gusts possible.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. A quick snow shower possible in southwestern NH and northwestern MA. Lows 26-33. Wind W-NW 10-20 MPH, higher gusts possible.

SUNDAY: Sun and passing clouds. Highs 36-43. Wind NW-W 15-25 MPH, higher gusts.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear. Lows 18-25. Wind W 5-15 MPH, diminishing.

MONDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 42-49. Wind W to variable up to 10 MPH.

MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear. Lows 32-39. Wind WSW up to 10 MPH.

TUESDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 47-54. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.

DAYS 6-10 (MARCH 22-26)

Fair weather and mild air for the middle of next week. A low pressure area threatens with precipitation (rain favored) March 24-25 before fair and cooler weather returns at the end of the period.

DAYS 11-15 (MARCH 27-31)

A more active pattern for the final days of March with a couple of precipitation threats and temperatures near to below normal.

93 thoughts on “Friday March 17 2023 Forecast (7:09AM)”

      1. ha ha ha. :mrgreen:

        Good morning and thank you TK. So are we done with SNOW for the season? I know you will say no, but I am ready for SPRING! BRING IT ON. 🙂 : ) 🙂

          1. Final total = 12.4” 😈

            Boston’s average last “inch” was on “pi” day (3/14). Maybe next year. 🙁

  2. Thanks TK !

    Happy St Patrick’s Day !

    I liked how you referenced summer 92 (post Pinatubo) at the end of yesterday’s blog, because we are post Tonga.

    I keep forgetting about the Tonga eruption, but will keep it in mind as I ponder what our coming summer could be like.

  3. Good morning and thank you, TK

    Waking up with a laugh is a wonderful way to begin the day. Just fun that Mr green was the first one used. Fits the day also.

  4. Happy St Patrick’s Day. Below is my emoji post from last night. It was interesting trying to figure how to get the emoji and then keystrokes to produce it beside

    These are the emojis I tried that worked. I’ll keep looking for more

    https://imgur.com/a/pQmDM3O

    1. Excellent question Philip. Several of the characters on my iPhone keyboard work on WP. That is one and the heart I use is another. I’ll go thru a bunch of those later today

  12. Googling Tonga vs Pinatubo …… 99% of the info going right over my head …..

    Because one exploded on land and the other a distance under the ocean, there does seem to be some literature out there comparing the 2 on water vapor. I guess Tonga put a LOT more water vapor into the atmosphere compared to Pinatubo.

  14. Philip do you an iPhone? I’ll try some of the emojis from its emoji keyboard below. Maybe someone with an android can try theirs. I assume androids have different keyboard options ??

    ☘️✨⚡️☄️⛅️️☀️️️☁️️️⛈️⛄️☃️❄️️️️️☂️☔️

    Above are all of its weather emojis on the keyboard I use. There are a ton but only the ones the work will show of course

        1. Do you have an emoji keyboard active. My keyboard is shown in the link below. If I chose the smiley face to the right of the ..123, I see my emoji keyboard. I suspect you already know this but figure to keep the number of comments down here, I’d ask in this comment. You can see some of the emojis that work from that keyboard above. In my 10:38 post. I tried a slew of them in the post with the star and only the star worked.

    1. I can tell everyone likes him. I’ll try some random ones below on this comment from my keyboard. If nothing shows, nothing worked

      ⭐️‍️‍‍

  18. Thanks, TK.

    I’m amazed Logan recorded 0.5 inch earlier this week.

    I’m fairly close to Logan. While it did snow where I am nothing stuck. And I mean nothing. Not to grass, trees, or anything else that I could see from my window. I stayed up late, and even woke up at 1:30am to look outside. Maybe some snow fell after that that did stick for a bit?

    The only `memorable’ inches of snow occurred about 3 weeks ago. It didn’t snow much, but it stuck around for a few days and really looked like winter. It was the only time this winter that it looked that way.

    The other day I looked in my storage closet and got a dreaded feeling of angst as I saw my two oscillating fans. I recalled Tom’s post on the summers of 1995 and 2002. Oh lord. If the summer of 2023 is like those two summers, I’m toast; literally, burnt toast.

    1. Where I live in Dorchester, it stuck to my front porch, grass, and rooftops although very little on sidewalks and absolutely nothing on the streets. I guess your neighborhood was in a “snow hole”. Lol. 😀

      1. Probably was. It never snowed hard where I was. Mostly light and almost always mixed with rain or sleet.

        I’m the person in the building responsible for shoveling the sidewalk and walkways through our courtyard and out the back entrance and in the trash area. I’ve shoveled only once this season, and it was minimal. I could have easily used a broom. I have put down some salt several times.

        1. I believe plows have only been used just once on the streets that I can recall. Otherwise it’s been just spreading chemicals mostly. The city of Boston should have a huge surplus of snow removal funds next season easily.

  20. happy emoji day!!
    From android. I don’t think anything will work

    ☀️⚡☃️☃️✨✂️⚒⛈⛅☃️❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄☄⛄

        1. I was really disappointed none of the faces worked also.

          I love your happy emoji day ….it’s a fun day to play around with it

    1. My pleasure. It was that or work on taxes so ……..

      Problem is I’m running out of reasons not to do taxes

  22. Flies and bugs are back in the city. Not a lot of them. But it usually suggests no more moderate to severe frost until late November/December. March 17th isn’t that early to see insects, but it is about 7-14 days earlier than normal in the city of Boston.

    It could still snow and we will get some nights in which the mercury goes below freezing. But, I do think harsh cold is over, not that we really had much to begin with. Insects `know’ when it’s come to emerge. They’re not suicidal.

          1. The 18-25F Sunday night applies outside of Boston. I’m quite confident Boston doesn’t go below 28F (at least not in my area). Light frost, to be sure. But not moderate or severe. Even though March has been slightly below normal at times, I’ve only registered any frost at all on my thermometer 6 times this month. And each time it’s barely gotten below 32F. Lowest temp here this month was 30F (well, 29.7F).

            1. I wouldn’t doubt your words. Our ground has never been frozen frozen. Fairly solid during that cold period in January but even then I had no trouble removing the rods that secure the nativity we have out

            2. 28 would be a hard freeze, not a light frost, although that’s moot at the moment since it’s pre-growing season and most of the early bloom wouldn’t suffer badly.

              Why do I think Boston can get to 25? Over-forecast wind. Looser gradient with a little nose of high pressure just in time. Timing is crucial.

  23. 56. It occurred to me when I was driving yesterday that my car thermometer has read 50+ more often than not this season. That said, my car will be eight years old in June and only has 31,500 miles so I’m not in it as often as most.

    1. I just hit 123456 miles on my 2014 (bought with 22K on it in 2017) yesterday. 🙂

      1. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Mac and I traded both of ours for the one I have in June 2015. I’m more apt to ride than drive now.

  25. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! I still don’t know how to do emojis, so you’ll have to pretend they’re there.

    2. Took me a while to figure out also. Next to the emoji are the keyboard characters. ; ) produces a smile. But no space between the colon and closing parenthesis.

      : mrgreen: makes rhe little green man. No space after the first colon.

      I have to put in a space to create a sample or the emoji will appear.

      1. Ten for your keyboard? That makes sense. Not many of them work. See my link at the start of today. You can see the emoji and the keystrokes used to produce them. Just remember not to put any spaces within the key strokes.

  27. TK, I learn something new from you every day. I thought a hard freeze was below 28F for an extended period of time. But, you’re saying – and I believe you – that getting to 28F would count as a hard freeze.

    I have noticed this month that Boston’s lows in March have been significantly higher than Metro West. As mentioned, in Boston we’ve only dipped to 32F or a bit below 6 times this month. I’m sure that number is twice that in, say, Framingham.

    1. Warmer than normal water temp and official temp at airport in winter virtually guarantees consistent low temps warmer there than Metro West except for a few weather situations.

  28. I find it somewhat frustrating (at least to some extent) that we have not had any “sustained” cold. What little we’ve had, it doesn’t stick around no more than 24 hours and then it’s…poof! gone. Most winters that I can recall extreme cold shots last at least a good 48-60 hours (2-2.5 days) before leaving. The 2022-23 winter the cold shots literally “eat & run”. They leave before the dessert is served. 😛

    This Sunday’s cold shot is a perfect example.

    2. I don’t see weather patterns as frustrating, I see them as fascinating. We couldn’t sustain cold anywhere in this part of the country because of the stability of the pattern. Meanwhile, they had no problem sustaining it in the West. 🙂

      That said, we’ve had plenty of winters where cold shots were fleeting – this one just sticks out most because it was about as persistent as we can get and was also most recent.

      This Sunday’s is not really the same. It’s more climatology, and also, we have not be persistently mild this month. It’s been cool. We are just moderating, get a brief cold shot, then moderate again – but it’s not the same as we had during the vast majority of the winter.

  29. TK – The latest CPC outlook through the end of the month is for well below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for CA. Will they experience heavy mountain snows yet again? Will those residents run the risk of being buried inside their homes as well?

    1. They will probably not see anything to the extreme of what they already saw, but they will add some additional snowfall in parts of the region, yes.. But they’ve already been melting some, so they won’t be “starting over” so to speak.

      1. I just love these new emojis! 😛

        I guess we won’t be needing this one until December at the earliest.❄️

            2. The year’s lack of snow in southern New England was a result of a stable La Nina pattern. You’ll get your snow back. 🙂

  31. ❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

    just wanted to see what snow looks like.

Comments are closed.