New Year’s Day in Boston saw a high of 55 degrees. Thermometers hit 52 degrees on Jan. 2, and 45 on Jan. 3, according to the National Weather Service.
This is not what most people typically picture when they think of winter in New England. And while there have certainly been warm Januarys before — and late December saw a brutal cold spell in Boston — the trend is clear, GBH meteorologist Dave Epstein told Morning Edition hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel Wednesday.
“The weather's definitely been warmer than average, there's no question,” Epstein said.
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The Blue Hill Observatory & Science Center, which has been keeping track of climate data since 1885, has seen 48 months break into its list of the top 10 warmest months on record since 2010, Epstein said. In that time, only one month has entered the list of top 10 coldest months.
“Some people say, well, you know, it was so cold at Christmas Eve, why don't you guys talk about that?” Epstein said, noting it was the coldest Dec. 24 since 1983. “But the theme here is that as the climate continues to change, months like this, weeks like this, will continue to just be more the norm, more what we will see.”
This week probably won’t bring Boston any snow, but Eastern Massachusetts can expect rain Wednesday evening, Thursday and Friday, with a chance of freezing rain around Northern Worcester County.
“A low pressure is going to go to our west,” Epstein said. “That's going to bring rain in here later on this evening. It may get in for the evening commute, but certainly overnight tonight, we'll see rainy areas.”
On Thursday, cold air will come into the region, with expected highs in the low 40s.
“As the storm ends, there may be a little bit of leftover frozen drizzle or some light frozen precipitation,” Epstein said. “This would not be a big deal. It could coat the ground. But nevertheless, it takes an incredibly thin amount of freezing rain to produce real problems on the roadways, so we just want to be aware of that.”
So when will snow come? There’s no way to know for sure.
“I can't say whether we're going to have a big snowstorm or not, but we're definitely going to cool off,” Epstein said.
Still, it is only January.
“Winter’s not over, we could still see a winter where you have 70, 80, 100 inches of snow,” he said. “So I don't want to predict anything, any sort of demise like that. But again, over time, we'll get more winters that are warmer.”