We went from WARM weather, to WILD weather, and back to WINTER today. Have you been keeping up? After three consecutive days of record breaking high temperatures (all three of which ended up in the “top 5 warmest during February” list), we had some strong/severe storms move through Western New England last night. The National Weather Service sent a survey crew out to Conway (Franklin County) today to evaluate the damage caused by wind last night during those storms. The NWS confirmed this evening that an EF1 tornado caused the damage in Conway and Goshen, Massachusetts on Saturday, 2/25. It’s not crazy for Massachusetts to see severe weather like this, but it IS crazy that it’s happening at this time of year. This is the ONLY confirmed tornado on record for the month of February.
That cold front that fired up this line of storms last night has long since moved out – but it ushered in much cooler air. Today it was back to the reality of February weather. While we had the sunshine, we also had a chilly breeze. Add on to all of that the fact that temps were 20-30° cooler than yesterday – it was a bit of a shock to the system. It appears though, that the “cold” still won’t “hold” as we’re in for mild temperatures for most of this week.
We’ll finish off February with two more “orange” boxes on the calendar, marking above-average temperatures for the last two days of the month. Then the focus turns to the month of March – and the beginning of Meteorological Spring! It looks like we get yet another temp boost on Wednesday (March 1st), taking highs to around 60°, but it won’t be the enjoyable 60-degree weather we had last week… as we’re also expecting clouds and rain showers.
Are you keeping up with this roller-coaster ride? Because it’s up-up-up and back down again by Thursday. We’ll start Thursday with clouds and mild temperatures, but gusty winds will usher the cold air back in. Highs on Friday and Saturday will top out in the 30s.
It seems the cold just won’t hold these days, and that also looks to be the case next weekend. While Friday and Saturday will be below normal days, I do expect the month of March to wrap up with above-average temps (as did January and February). HOWEVER, that’s not to say that we won’t have any bouts with cold weather during the month of March. There could even be some more snow in store for us. If we have learned anything about New England weather, it’s that it can change in an instant. We’ll stay on top of it for you and keep you posted. Stay tuned… – Breezy