Boston is finally expected to see warmer temperatures in the coming week after a long stretch of snow, icy and bitter cold, according to National Weather Service forecasts.
“The big news this week is warming temperatures,” said NWS meteorologist Francis Tarasiewicz. “We’ll finally get above freezing. We’ve gotten a lot of calls about frozen sidewalks and things like that, when those might thaw out. This might be the week when that happens.”
The region is “expecting a pretty nice week for once,” Tarasiewicz said, in time to “get people excited for spring.”
Boston is set to see temperatures rise 10 to 20 degrees above the freezing spell in recent weeks and even above seasonal averages, Tarasiewicz said. Those averages are around lower 40s, or upper 30s further to the north, for the region around this time of year, the meteorologist said.
The region will kick off the week Monday with a high around 44 degrees, mostly sunny skies and a calm wind blowing through, the NWS forecasts. The low is expected to dip to 36 degrees Monday night, NWS states, with gust up to 22 mph.
Tuesday through Thursday, temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 40s to low 50s, according to NWS, with lows in the mid-30s.
“I think the better day out of the warm days will be Wednesday,” Tarasiewicz said. “We expect mostly clear skies that day, with temperatures in the upper 40s, if not lower 50s, for just about everyone away from the coast. So it’ll be a nice day.”
On Tuesday, NWS forecasts a slight chance of rain after 4 p.m. heading into the night. The precipitation is expected to be concentrated “mainly in the northwestern parts of the state of Massachusetts” and be “light rain showers,” Tarasiewicz said.
A higher chance of precipitation is expected to return Thursday after 10 a.m., NWS forecasts. Residents may “expect a period of light and maybe moderate rain sometime Thursday afternoon,” Tarasiewicz said, with totals maybe around “a quarter of an inch or so of rainfall.”
By Thursday night, temperatures are expected to start cooling again.
“Then we’ll see things start to drop off after Thursday,” said Tarasiewicz. “We expect a cold front to move through by Thursday afternoon into Friday. So we’ll have a nice little break from the cold weather, and it’s going to come back right back in time for the weekend.”