Weather maps for Memorial Day weekend show rain chances in Massachusetts
Many folks consider Memorial Day weekend to be the unofficial start of summer here in New England. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Boston shows Mother Nature is working on a slightly different calendar.
The holiday weekend seems to follow the classic "spring rules" in New England, which state that just about anything goes weather-wise.
You can get all the summer feels like we did in 2022 and 2023 when temperatures were largely in the 70s and 80s with abundant sunshine or, on the other end of the spectrum, you can get a year like 2021.
Perhaps you wiped that year from your memory. From Friday through Monday that year, it rained (or poured) every single day. Boston received more than 3" of rain, and we set records for the lowest high temperatures. The high on Saturday and Sunday only got to 51 degrees. It was warmer on the prior Christmas than it was that weekend.
You could say we have good news and bad news this coming weekend. The good news, it will not be another 2021. It may not be a "beach weekend," but there will be some salvageable, decent outdoor moments (just what you wanted to hear right?).
Friday weather forecast
If you are lucky enough to have a four-day weekend, Friday may be the best of the bunch.
It will not be completely sunny, but then again, no day this weekend will be.
There will be lots of high, cirrus clouds around to dim the sun somewhat.
Temperatures will range from the low 60s near the coastline to the mid and some upper 60s west of 495.
Most importantly, this will be the only day of the four-day stretch without any rainfall in New England.
Saturday weather forecast
On to the weekend: Saturday will be the driest day of the holiday weekend.
The highest risk of rain will be across western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The remainder of the area looks to stay completely dry albeit without much sunshine.
We will have lots of high clouds to start the day, followed by a deck of mid-level stratus clouds which will push northeastward across the area, thickening the cloud cover overall.
Best chance of sunshine would be across Maine, far northeast Massachusetts and parts of New Hampshire (better early in the day).
High temperatures will be similar to Friday, coolest right at the beaches (upper 50s and low 60s), and warmest (mid to upper 60s) across areas northwest of Boston including the Merrimack Valley and areas northward into New Hampshire and Maine.
Sunday weather forecast
Sunday looks like the wettest and coolest day of the weekend. Odds of rain have been steadily increasing, especially across southern New England with an area of low pressure passing to the south.
Highs will be stuck in the mid 50s across the area, 10-15 degrees below average.
Memorial Day weather forecast
Memorial Day has some promise. As of now, it looks like we may start the day on the gloomy side with a few leftover showers from Sunday.
Playing it optimistically, we do think that some sunshine will pop by midday and afternoon and that should spike temperatures close to 70 degrees away from the immediate coastline. The beaches are likely to remain 5-10 degrees cooler thanks to an onshore wind.
