Nasty storm last night—one for the ages and you would think in February that would mean heavy snow & cold. Nope, that was last winter and like snowflakes, no two winters are alike. You got that right. Some stats about last night’s storm (thanks to our friends at the National Weather Service in Taunton for the research while all of us TV Ken & Barbie dolls yuk it up on TV). :
* Last nights Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Boston was the first ever in the month of February (records only back to 1970)
* The earliest Severe Thunderstorm Watch for any part of MA was back on February 22nd, 1997 (again, records back to 1970)
* There were over 50 reports of wind damage with the storms last night with Blue Hill recording a wind gust of 76 mph, Boston a gust to 69 mph and Dracut a wind gust to 66 mph. The lightning/thunder was outrageously loud–personally I woke up to a screaming child at precisely 2:46am (just like old times!). Winter thunderstorms typically are louder due to cooler temps in the atmosphere (redirecting sound waves) as well as a lack of foliage on the trees (leaves soak up the sound waves of thunder in spring-summer).
Thankfully, we’ll sleep better tonight as there won’t be any strong wind or thunder but we will have colder air seeping back into New England. This colder air is earth-shattering or record setting, rather just chilly when you stack it up against the 50s & 60s we’ve seen the past 24 hours. Tomorrow we start in the low 30s & hang out in the upper 30s under a partly sunny sky. We will still have some wind–not damaging–but enough to add a chill to the air.
The weekend starts cold–an oddity this winter–with temps in the teens with marginal recover expected by afternoon as most thermometers top out in the upper 30s. Like so often tho the cold just can’t hold. Sunday (and for much of next week) we see temps head right back into well above normal territory with afternoon highs in the low 50s under a sunny sky…awesome for early spring outdoor activities, not so much for winter sports tho.
Get some sleep, springtime thunderstorms are right around the corner.
~JR