Record Cold Could Hit Massachusetts This Weekend

Photo by Madeline Billis

Ask a teen: Being chill is good.

Ask someone who wishes they were in Miami: Being chill is bad.

Ask a meteorologist: We’re all going to be chill very soon.

Yes, despite Monday’s unusually warm 70-degree high temperatures, Massachusetts will be hit with cold blast of air on Thursday, and the weather pendulum in some areas could swing toward record lows. According to the National Weather Service in Taunton, wind gusts of up to 30 mph are likely to sweep through the region as temperatures fall to the 20s in western Massachusetts and the low 30s closer to the Atlantic as the week goes on.

But before the cold train comes rumbling into Boston’s station, the city could tie a record that has stood since Lyndon Johnson was president. Meteorologists predict the temperature will remain above 40 degrees until the clock strikes midnight Monday, the 201st day in a row the mercury has refrained from plunging into the 30s. The last time it was below 40 degrees in Boston was April 19, the day the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory.

Boston’s fall has been notably warmer than usual, and this year was the second-warmest October on record in the Hub. The above-40 streak was nearly broken on October 17, when temperatures plummeted to the 40-degree mark but remained above the threshold.

This weekend, however, that will likely change. According to the National Weather Service, an arctic front could lead to a sprinkle of rain or snow on Thursday night and bring in significantly cooler temperatures for Friday and Saturday. Boston’s historic November temperature average is just south of 45 degrees, with a record low of negative 2 degrees coming on November 20, 1875. This weekend probably won’t be so direly chilly, but it may finally be time to shake the cobwebs off your pea coat and reunite with that $5 bill you left in your pocket last spring.