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Has spring arrived in Boston?

E-mail|Link|Comments () March 6, 2010 02:01 PM

John Blanding/Globe Staff

Crocuses abloom this morning in Gloucester.

By Sean Teehan, Globe Correspondent

Maybe Old Man Winter has gone on spring break.

People in Boston and across the East Coast today are basking in warm temperatures and sunny skies.

Peaking with a 53-degree high today, temperatures are expected to remain in the high 40s to low 50s Sunday and Monday, forecasters said.

“The normal high for Boston is 44 now,” Bill Simpson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, said.

Simpson expects the relatively balmy temperatures will begin a descent on Monday and Tuesday. A wintry mix of snow, sleet, and rain may arrive Thursday, he said.

All in all, Simpson believes the mild weather will amount to a “five-to-six-day stretch of nice weather.”

Boston has been enjoying milder winter than last year, according to the forecasters. The city has accumulated 35.5 inches of snow so far, compared with last winter when Boston hit 60 inches.

Massachusetts’ winter has been especially mild compared to that of Washington D.C., where a spate of snowstorms brought 73.2 inches of snow as opposed to their normal average of 18 inches, forecasters said.

For now, Simpson said, southeastern Massachusetts cities and towns including Brockton, Foxborough and Taunton can expect the warmest temperatures.