Many record high temperatures were broken across New England today mainly near and north of a line from Hartford to Boston. Some of these temperatures smashed the previous records by more than 10 degrees and they were the average highs for the month of June! That is astonishing! Boston’s 3:59pm high of 74 degrees exceeded the 70 set just one year ago today. Samples of more impressive records are Concord, NH where the 81 degrees smashed the 67 set in 2011, Caribou, ME where the 64 beat the 48 set in 1968 and Worcester, MA where the 74 smoked the 65 set in 1999. The WBZ WeatherBug Network stations located across northern MA and southern NH were the warmest with highs of 77-81 degrees! Interestingly, delta T or the change of temperature from the morning min to the afternoon max for many locations was a whopping 33-48 degrees! That is also astonishing! As examples, Pepperell, MA started at 31 and maxed at 79 plus Concord, MA started at 32.1 and topped out at 75.7! What gives? Will this June-like weather continue? I expect more of this summery preview this week after a break in the heat tomorrow and Tuesday. With all of this said, it was significantly cooler on the South Coast and Cape. As per my blog from last evening, the wind direction is key. Today’s southwesterly wind is a chilly wind for those areas but a warming wind for east coastal New England because it is blowing from the warm land to the cold ocean. With another backdoor cold front surging down the coast tomorrow, the warmth will be pushed farther to the west. It could warm up to near 60 before the frontal passage switches the wind in to the northeast. After that, the temperature drop will be more noticeable along the coast but cooling will certainly extend well inland as well. I expect it to cool through the 50s into the upper 40s near the coastline ranging up to the 50s well inland and 60s over western New England. The front may remain stalled over southwestern New England through much of Tuesday before it returns as a warm frontal boundary later in the day. Most signs point to another layer of low clouds overspreading much of the region during tomorrow and it may be tough to burn it off on Tuesday. Thereafter, a flip back to a warming southwesterly wind will entice breaking clouds and more sunshine to appear. The air mass will become more humid as the temperatures have a shot at rising into the 70s on Wednesday but that southwesterly wind will again keep it in the cool lower to middle 50s on the South Coast and Cape Cod. Fog will be a problem from time to time especially down there tonight and other locations as well tomorrow night through Tuesday night. Boston’s record high temperature for March 21 is 83 set in 1921. That will not be broken this Wednesday but Thursday’s record of 72 set in 1948 should easily be smashed unless an approaching cold front accelerates and passes through in the morning. At the present time, the passage is timed for later in the afternoon or evening. It will introduce much cooler air but still above average temperatures near 60 degrees on Friday when it is mainly sunny and windy. Another batch of even cooler weather will follow the beginning of the final week of March. I am becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of precipitation and not much is in the works for the next week or more. Presently, it appears that there is only a slight risk of a shower mainly in western New England over the next couple days with a few spotty showers possible anywhere next Sunday or Monday. No widespread beneficial rain is foreseen so the fire danger will be ramping higher.

The vernal equinox or the official beginning of astronomical spring occurs Tuesday, March 20, at 1:14am.

Melissa Mack delivers her AccuWeather Forecast in the morning and Todd Gutner follows later in the day.

Make it a great week!