Arctic chill is coming
Winter blast follows record highs enjoyed just last week
After a May tease last week, Mother Nature is reminding us that it remains technically winter for another week.
A blast of arctic air is coming to New England, following snow squalls on Sunday that led to a coating of snow in some areas.
The arctic chill could lead to some low temperature records for the region, less than a week after many New England cities smashed high temp records in the 70s.
“That’s definitely March in New England,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Kristie Smith, based in NWS Boston’s Norton office. “It’s pretty crazy how that works.”
Boston could hit a record low today. The forecast shows 11 degrees for a low today, and the record low for March 15 is 12 degrees in 1993.
The projected high for Boston today is 27 degrees. The coldest ever high for March 15 was 26 degrees in 1932.
“We got a shot at both of those,” Smith said of the two record low temperature marks for March 15.
The arctic cold front bringing unseasonably cold air and another round of strong winds could result in wind chills dropping to -15 for some parts of Massachusetts this morning.
The wind chills in Boston are expected to go down to -5. Howling winds in the 40 mph range are expected.
“Bitterly cold wind chills between 0 and 10 below zero are expected by daybreak” today, the National Weather Service forecast reads. “The east slopes of the Berkshires may flirt with Wind
Chill Values near -15 and it is possible a Wind Chill Advisory may be required.”
Then temps are expected to moderate and get more seasonable from Tuesday through Thursday.
Temps on Tuesday should be around 40 degrees, followed by a climb into the 50s on Wednesday and Thursday.
Then another shot of cold is on the way for Friday, in the 30s.
As far as precipitation goes, “It doesn’t look like a lot on the docket,” Smith said. “We’re not seeing much for the last week of winter.”