Is it February or April? Boston tied its record high temperature today hitting 60° this afternoon. That’s our average high on April 23rd!
Worcester also broke a record today! That record has has been standing since 1909! Perhaps most incredible, Worcester shot up to 56° at 9:00 this morning! And then just hung out there for the rest of the day. For Boston it took a little more effort to get to 60°. We spiked up quick this morning to the mid 50s, then went degree by degree on our way to 60° at about 1pm.
For Boston, we’re right on schedule for our first 60° day. On average we hit our first 60° on February 3rd, so about a week behind schedule. But how we get to that date is a little more abstract than averaging like we do temperatures. We line up all the times we hit our first 60° over the years, start chopping off from both ends until we meet in the middle. That middle date is February 3rd. Last year was similar, we hit our first 60° on February 12th.
So clearly hitting 60° in February isn’t out the ordinary. If we “average” our first 60° day in the month of February then it’s clear that it happens decently often. But with our mild pattern ahead, we have more 60° chances. And that’s what could be a little bit more uncommon. We average, for Boston, one 60° day each February. We’ve now done that, but have more chances by the second half of next week. The most we’ve ever done was five which was in 1930. Last year was a warm February when we did it four times.
Today was like jumping feet first into spring… the problem is we still have almost 40 days of winter to go! We don’t officially hit spring for another 38 days.
Your weekend forecast unfortunately does not have 60s in it, but it is still a very nice forecast! Our average high is now in the upper 30s so we’ll stay above average this weekend, we’ll just be closer to average. Saturday will feature plenty of sunshine and a breeze. It won’t be as bad as today’s wind but you’ll still notice it. That breeze will make the low 40s feel like the 30s. Sunday looks outstanding with sunshine, less wind, and temperatures that climb to near 50 in the afternoon!
