< Back to front page
Text size
–
+
Warming this weekend, dangerous heat for Boston Marathon
A nice night with clear skies is ahead. Temperatures will fall rapidly after sunset to be in the 30s in many places early Saturday morning. Sunshine will help to boost temperatures well into the 60s and lower 70s for the afternoon tomorrow. Very warm to hot air will head for southern New England Saturday night and Sunday. The transition between the warm air this weekend and the heat Monday could bring a few showers Saturday night through Sunday. However, I expect plenty of sunshine Sunday as well.
Weekend forecast
Saturday, the warming trend continues and most areas will see highs making into the upper 60s and even lower 70s southwest of Boston. Sunshine will be abundant although there may be some clouds showing up later in the afternoon and evening.
Saturday night and Sunday even warmer air will stream into the region. As this summer-like air mass moves into the area a few showers are possible. Sunday will feature clouds and some sunshine with the risk of some shower or even the rumble of thunder. Temperatures will be slightly warmer than Saturday. The increase in clouds is the reason it will not be in the upper 70s Sunday. If I am over estimating the clouds Sunday, I will under estimate temperatures and Sunday will be about 7 degrees warmer than forecast.
Marathon Monday
On Monday there will be a front or dividing line running through New England. This front, will mark the boundary between air temperatures in the low 70s and the upper 80s to near 90°F. Portland, Maine should have a temperature around noon of 72°F degrees, while Newton maybe as warm as 90°F. I will be tweaking the forecast for the day a bit over the weekend. You can see my current thinking in the chart below. This heat is going to cause major problems for the runners Monday. People will not finish, heat exhaustion will be an issue and I expect the medical tent to be in full use. Stay tuned, this will be one of the top 5 warmest marathons on record.
Stay tuned to my blog and follow me on twitter. Follow me on Twitter at @growingwisdom The weather has had an enormous impact on the race. Check out the graphic below for some interesting weather that has occurred in the past. 
The record high temperatures for Monday are as follows across the area.
BOSTON...84°F IN 2003
PROVIDENCE...88°F IN 2003
WINDSOR LOCKS...90°F IN 2002
WORCESTER...84°F IN 2002 AND IN PREVIOUS YEAR
Gardening tip of the week
One of my favorite flowering azaleas is the vaseyi variety. This plant, native to the Carolina area is a reliable early bloomer in the garden and will flower in a shady spot. If you are looking for a great plant for early spring color, check this out. It might be hard to find, but its worth the hunt.
Follow me on Twitter at @growingwisdom and check out my latest videos at GrowingWisdom.com
The author is solely responsible for the content.
About the author
David Epstein has been a professional meteorologist and horticulturalist for three decades. David spent 16 years at WCVB in Boston and currently freelances for WGME in Portland, ME. In 2006, More »Recent blog posts
Get complete Boston snow and weather coverage here.
Tweets about snow and recent storms
This is a collection of Twitter messages on the snow and recent storms. This is an unedited stream from Twitter; Boston.com does not control the content. There may be some inappropriate language.
- Snow emergency information
- How to shovel snow the right way | Watch video
- Getting unstuck from a snowbank
- What to do if your roof collapses due to snow
- How to prevent falling on ice
