Boston, Climate: weather not terrible, but so-so
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7/11/2007
Boston is not the Arctic wasteland that people from southern climates might picture. Still, winters here are decidedly brisk. Most winter days are cold—usually in the thirties, frequently only in the twenties, down to the teens at night, with an occasional day when temperatures nudge into the forties. Almost every winter has several brief spells when it gets down to zero or below at night, and every few years there will be extended periods of such frigid weather—a couple of weeks or longer. Along the coast, snowfall averages a little over three feet per year. A few miles inland, this average increases to four feet or more. Perhaps the most unpleasant feature of winter in Boston is its length. Raw weather sets in around mid-November and remains until late March. Late winter and early spring are a sloppy mix of low skies, dank winds, wet and heavy snow, and biting rain. Springtime has its share of pleasant weather, especially after about mid-April, but much of so-called spring scatters the occasional sunny, moderate day among numerous days of something more like an extended winter mild spell—chilly, muddy, and wet. Some years there will be a day of cold drizzle here and there even into the middle of June. Each summer has a few spells of temperatures in the nineties. Most of the time, afternoon highs are in the eighties, which is not quite as pleasant as it sounds, since the moderate temperatures are accompanied by the mugginess characteristic of the east coast. Fall is gorgeous—many dry, sunny days when it’s either pleasantly warm or pleasantly cool—but brief. Overall, the weather in Boston actually is not awful, but it is frequently rather unpleasant.
BT | Weston, MA