Less than a week after a frigid start to February, springlike warmth broke numerous temperature records across the Northeast, calling into question Punxsutawney Phil’s Feb. 2 prognostication. The groundhog declared six more weeks of winter, but it has felt more like late March in recent days. The warm weather will not be long-lived, though, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
A major turnaround began on Sunday as temperatures across the Northeast soared into the 50s during the afternoon. In fact, the surge of milder air helped Boston set a record for the largest temperature rise over a 36-hour period. Beantown went from 9 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Feb. 4 at around 5:54 a.m. to 50 degrees around 1:54 p.m. on Feb. 5. That temperature swing of 59 degrees beat the city’s previous 36-hour record of 54, which occurred from Jan. 31, 1951, to Feb. 1, 1951.
