You are entirely correct if it seems like Massachusetts has experienced a different kind of winter!
This winter in Boston and beyond has looked very different from previous years due to cold days and ice on ponds, which has allowed us to enjoy some snow and stay clear of muddy terrain for the majority of January.
Winter in Boston is colder than usual… so far
It has been a big change to occasionally have colder than usual circumstances in the talk.
Boston barely survived a below-normal December, and January is ending one degree below-normal, marking the first time the city has experienced consecutive below-normal months since the spring of 2020 (and the first time during winter since 2017-18).
The Blue Hill Observatory in Milton was only cooler in January, while neither Worcester nor Hartford were colder than usual. In other words, this one feels arctic in comparison because of our recency bias!
Massachusetts snow totals
In Massachusetts, snow has been hard to come by this winter, despite the increased cold. So far in Boston, we’ve had almost as much as we did last year. However, Worcester has seen far less snow than it did the previous year.
The majority of recent winters have been record-warm or almost so (six of the ten warmest on record have happened since 2010, with 2015–16 taking the top spot).
In actuality, we’ve been experiencing a fairly typical Massachusetts winter, which has been difficult to find.
The winter of 2017–18 was the last time we experienced a significant cold spell, with temperatures reaching extremely low levels from the end of December to the beginning of January.
A blizzard that reached the record high water mark in Boston Harbor also marked the end of that stretch!
This winter, there hasn’t been as much fanfare because we’ve got cold but not snow. At least we succeeded in having the city’s first White Christmas since 2009.
How much snow falls in February?
Since we already know what has occurred, what will happen next?
My favorite winter month is February, which has a lot more daylight and typically the most spectacular snowstorms.
February is the snowiest month of the year, with an average of 14.4 inches falling on Boston. For the first time in three years, we have a chance to hit that milestone, but we anticipate more rain and a mix of conditions.
As the month progresses, the trend is changing from the consistent cold we’ve been experiencing for a few weeks to one that shows more erratic temperature swings.
More active periods with a higher likelihood of storms than we had in January are what this pattern will favor.
However, instead of nor’easters going up the coast, we’re establishing a storm track that favors many storms coming from the west, or “overrunning” storms.
More mild Gulf air should be able to come up in the east as the prevailing trend moves the arctic cold further westward.
We experienced the warmest February on record during the 2017–18 winter, with some towns even experiencing temperatures of 80 degrees on one day.
Since too much cold is still leaking westward and will occasionally be accessible for tapping, I don’t believe this pattern represents a recurrence of it.
We will still need to get cold shots. However, I do believe that February will be milder than usual overall in Boston.
How much so will determine whether or not this winter is remembered as the first one that was colder than usual in ten years.
The last time it occurred was during the 2014–15 Big Event. To prevent that, February would need to end more than two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual.
Leave a Comment