IT’LL BE A WARMING TREND AGAIN
Area just missed a nor’easter
So close, yet so far.
Friday night’s snowfall across southeastern New England, which brought a quick burst of accumulation to the South Coast and Cape Cod, could have been full-fledged nor’easter if only it’d turned gently turned north rather than east.
But as has been the case virtually all winter long for Boston and New England, the storm moved east and exited stage right into the Atlantic Ocean. That led to a burst of accumulating snow on the storm’s fringes in southeastern Massachusetts, but it left Boston (again) with mainly just a few flurries.
The storm strengthened rapidly over the western Atlantic Ocean, undergoing ‘bombogenisis’, a term used to describe the rapid intensification of a storm based on its barometric pressure. If a storm’s central pressure drops by 24 millibars or more in 24 hours or less, it’s determined to have undergone bombogenesis, also known as a bomb cyclone. Friday night’s storm more than met that threshold, but it moved too far east too quickly to deliver anything beyond a quick shot of snow to parts of New England.
That’s been the case basically all winter, as Boston’s only seen an official total of 15.1 inches of snow this winter season. It’s probably a bit early to close the book on winter, but should Boston wind up with only 15.1 inches of snowfall, it’d finish tied for the sixth-least snowy winter in the city’s recorded history. It’d also be more than two feet below Boston’s average seasonal snowfall of around 43 inches.
If you’re looking for an early spring, though, then you’ve got plenty more to be excited about. Highs today and on Tuesday could approach 70 degrees on both days, around 25 degrees above average for March 9 and 10. Should Boston hit 70, it’d make it the city’s third 70-plus reading so far this year, following unusual back-to-back 70degree days back in mid-January.
Boston’s average first 70-degree reading falls on April 7.
After gorgeous spring-like weather today and Tuesday, though, reality will slowly settle back in by the middle of this week.
A cold front approaching from the west will bring rain on Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning, giving way to sunny and tranquil weather for Wednesday and Thursday. Highs on both Wednesday and Thursday will probably top out in the 50s, though rain returns late Thursday into Friday.
By Thursday night into Friday, showers will bring down temperatures into the mid-to-upper 40s for a cooler and damper feel.
But with temperatures mostly in the 50s and 60s this week, you can forget about one thing we’ve forgotten about all winter long: snow.