Will New England Have Its Mildest Winter Ever This Year?
Has the groundhog ever gone back into its hole because it was too sunny out?
That’s the question we’re left to ponder here in New England as we stare out at mid-October weather in mid-January. With the exception of children, skiers, and snowboarders, nobody’s really complaining but…it’s weird, right?
AN EXPERT WEIGHS IN
I asked veteran Boston meteorologist Mark Rosenthal if he can remember a time New England got so late into the season without any major snowstorms.
“I can’t,” said Rosenthal. “It’s just been bizarre that there’s just been really nothing. I mean, we’ve had small events, a little sleet, freezing rain, a little snow. We’ve gotten nothing. I mean, we’re just like the Patriots. We’re shut out.”
IS HISTORY FAR OFF?
While nearly every other part of the country has been hit with extreme winter weather, most of New England has been spared to the point of eeriness.
When asked if we’re on the verge of making history, Rosenthal didn’t bite. “I wouldn’t go that far yet. That’s a dangerous thing. Because we have January, all of February, all of March, and, I hate to say, all of April. Spring can be a cruel payback in New England."
“I remember sitting in the bleachers one year at a Red Sox game with some friends and it was eighty-something degrees,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Tomorrow we’re gonna get a foot of snow’ and they said ‘You’re out of your mind.’”
Sure enough, according to Rosenthal, they got that foot of snow.
It remains to be seen if the Red Sox's newest broadcaster will have to kill time during snow delays. And that still wouldn't be as strange as the time New England suffered the same frosty fate in the summer.
But keep your eye on the sky and the temps, as we could wind up chasing history.