I will never forget, for as long as I live, my first experience with tracking the weather. I was in a kindergarten class in little old Kuna, Idaho (pronounced like “tuna” for whatever reason). My teacher, Mrs. Hansen, would have us vote on what type of weather each day in March was; either it was a “lion day” or a “lamb day.” I suppose both points could be made for today’s weather, depending on if you were INSIDE or OUTSIDE… but if you did go out for any reason at all, it was certainly a LION day, with bitter cold and wind to add insult to injury.
Which leads me to my favorite question: “Why do I live in a place where the air hurts my face?” The answer is typically, “because we’ve seen better days.” In fact, what a comparison to just last Saturday when we set a record high of 69° in Boston – and today, when we tied a record COLD high temp of 21°. Today was the coldest it’s been since January 9th – and only one of 5 days since Dec. 1st when we’ve had highs in the 20s.
I mentioned before that the wind added insult to injury. When you have wind and cold together, you really can through out the air temps – because all that matters is the “wind chill.” These are the “real feel” temperatures. Really, wind chill is all about guarding any exposed skin. We have a small layer of heat, like a little invisible shield, that hovers just above our skin… and the wind is able to “blow” that shield away from our skin. This is why it’s important to bundle on the layers in cold AND wind like we had today (and like we’ll have overnight tonight). Wind chill indices are expected to get down to -20° in the coldest spots, which can be dangerous. In cold/wind like that, frost bite can set in in under 30 minutes. That’s why there’s a Wind Chill Advisory in effect from midnight through 7am Sunday:
We do get a little improvement tomorrow. After a frigid start – the afternoon will be warmer than today. Still, it will be a bit breezy – so even though highs will be in the low 30s for most, it will still feel very chilly. We’ll be back to “normal” on Monday, with highs in the low 40s. That’s where we should be for this time of year, according to 30-year climatological averages. Then it’s back into the 50s for the middle of next week – still riding the wave, with all of the ups and downs in temperature that March typically brings. That’s also when we’re expecting our next round of “weather” which comes in the form of showers late Tuesday into early Wednesday morning.
Despite this mid-week boost in temps, I don’t think it’s time to put away the winter coat just yet. It’s a bit of a toss-up as to what next weekend has in store; either mild temps and a round of rain – or colder temps and some snow on the way. Either way the forecast goes, next weekend looks unsettled. Stay tuned! – Breezy