Record highs possible this week
High 60s expected on Thursday
Dust off your T-shirts and shorts, a balmy week of weather is on the way for Massachusetts.
It’s going to feel like May in the second week of March — with temps soaring into the 60s. Thursday is expected to be the warmest day of the week, and could even lead to high temperature records getting smashed.
The forecast for Boston on Thursday is a high of 66 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The record high for March 11 is 67 degrees, which was set in 1990.
“We’ll be in striking distance of the record,” said Torry Gaucher, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in the Norton office.
This comes only 10 days after it felt like the dead of winter at the start of March.
The normal highs for the second week of March are in the mid-40s, so this week will be “abnormally warm” in the 60s, Gaucher said.
Before the warm-up, Monday will feel more seasonable in the upper 30s and low 40s.
Then the milder temps arrive on Tuesday, when temps creep into the 50s across the Boston area. Wednesday is expected to be a similar forecast as Tuesday.
Then temps climb into the 60s on Thursday.
“It’s definitely going to be a nice break from the winter weather, to say the least,” Gaucher said.
The Cape and Islands are expected to miss out on the 60s. That region should be in the 50s on Thursday because of wind coming off the ocean.
Much of Massachusetts could also hit 60 degrees on Friday before a weekend cooldown to more seasonable weather as the temperature rollercoaster continues. “Saturday should be back down in the mid 40s, which is where we should be this time of year,” Gaucher said.
As the warmer temps arrive, it appears that the region’s recent dry pattern will continue, forecasters said.