If you thought it felt like fall Tuesday morning, you are absolutely correct. The low temperature in the countryside was in the mid to upper 40s. That is more indicative of early-October than early-August. Taunton, MA dropped to 45° late Monday night, but may touch 80° on Tuesday afternoon with plenty of sunshine. That’s the big upside to having a cool start to the day in August, the sun is still plenty strong enough to allow for a warm afternoon.
A record low temperature was established in New Bedford where the temperature dropped to 46°. The old record was 50° set in 1897. The record low was reached in New Bedford on August 5, when the temperature dropped to 49°. Record low temperatures were not reached at the four major climatology sites (Boston, Providence, Hartford, Worcester) in Southern New England.
Notice the temperatures on the map below. The big cities were not nearly as cool as the outlying areas. The reason for it is “heat island” effect – all the concrete in the cities tends to hold in the warmth and not allow for as much radiational cooling to occur at night. The normal low temperature for the date is in the mid 60s in most of Southern New England.
