Folks, it’s freaking cold in the northern mid-Atlantic and New England. Because of a stationary front over the region, clouds and some rain have blocked out the warm summer sun. At the same time, a brisk east-to-north-northeast wind of 5 to 20 mph along the coastline has infiltrated the region. That means the ocean, whose temperatures are between 50 and 60 degrees from Boston to New York, has been moderating land temperatures.
The result: I wore my winter jacket to work in New York City on Tuesday and wish I had the day before. That’s because on both days, the high temperature failed to reach 60 degrees. As of 2 p.m. Tuesday in Boston, meanwhile, the temperature had been in the 40s since Sunday. But are we just wimps in the Northeast, or is what we’re feeling truly unusual?
It turns out that the weather is being weird. The high temperature on Monday in New York was only 58 degrees. And according to the National Weather Service’s NOWData, that was only the second time since 1872 that the high temperature on that date had been so low. (The other year it happened was 1945, when the high temperature was also 58 degrees.) In Boston, the previous lowest high temperature for June 1 was 53 degrees in 1992. That means Boston didn’t just break its previous record, it absolutely crushed it.
There’s more. Before Tuesday, the high temperature in New York on June 2 had failed to hit 60 degrees only twice. And the last time that happened was when most of us weren’t alive, 1946.
In Boston, the weather is also setting a record for the month of June. The high of 49 degrees on Monday — and as of 2 p.m. Tuesday — ties the lowest-ever high temperature for any day in the entire month of June since 1872. As long as the temperature doesn’t hit 51 degrees on Tuesday, not only will Boston set another daily record but it will also be the first time that the temperature didn’t make it to 51 degrees on two consecutive days in June.
The good news? High temperatures look to be back in the 70s in Boston and New York by the weekend. For now, residents of the Northeast, try to enjoy the history that is being made.