Cold air was too slow to stream into southern New England to change rain to snow before dawn Friday. Though Cape Cod and the Islands started the day with a period of snow.
While the cold air may have been slow to arrive, it’s certainly making itself known all day Friday into Friday night. Daytime high temperatures will be around 40, with wind chill values in the 20s most of the day. Northerly wind gusts will reach 30 to 40 mph early and a cold but clear night drops temperatures into the 20s.
Sunglasses should accompany the winter coat and gloves Friday, thanks to the dry nature of our new air. While the cold will ease over the weekend, the sunshine is sticking around through Sunday and beyond.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
Both weekend days will feature a light prevailing wind. This time of the year, with cold ocean water temperatures of only 40-42°, that encourages sea breeze development. Our First Alert Team thinks a pretty decent sea breeze will set up both weekend afternoons.
The impact of a sea breeze in March is pretty noticeable, often knocking temperatures from highs in the 50s or lower 60s into the 40s by the end of the day. It can occasionally reach as far inland as 20 to 30 miles by late day. Both of those characteristics are expected with our weekend afternoon sea breezes.
This weekend will be our first in New England since the fall that features over 12 hours of daylight. We ring in astronomical spring – spring on the calendar – at 5:37 a.m. Saturday with our Vernal Equinox.
Appropriately, it looks like spring temperatures will stick in the forecast through next week. Even though sunshine in the first half of the week yields to a building chance of showers by late week, daily high temperatures will still reach into the 50s and 60s.
That milder spring air is likely to hold through next weekend, even as the chance of showers remains elevated from time to time between Wednesday and Sunday. Right now, though, Thursday and Saturday have the potential to remain shower-free.
