Boston Weather Center

Current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts and all alerts come from the National Weather Service (api.weather.gov), using the forecast grid of the NWS Boston/Norton office and the nearest official observing station, which for Boston is Logan International Airport (KBOS). UV index, sunrise and sunset, model rain and snow totals and the town-card temperatures come from Open-Meteo. Boston Harbor tides come from NOAA station 8443970, and the radar is NOAA’s Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor reflectivity.

Station observations and forecasts are refreshed from the National Weather Service at least every 10 to 15 minutes, and alerts about every 3 minutes. The page updates itself while it is open. Each section shows the time its data was observed or issued, in Eastern Time, so you can see how current it is.

The National Weather Service issues a watch when conditions are favorable for a hazard, such as a winter storm or severe thunderstorms, so you should be prepared. A warning means the hazard is happening or is imminent and you should act now to protect life and property. An advisory is for less serious conditions that can still cause significant inconvenience or become dangerous if you are not careful.

The National Weather Service probability of precipitation is the chance that at least 0.01 inch of rain or melted snow will fall at a given point during the forecast period. A 30 percent chance means measurable precipitation is expected at that spot in about 3 out of 10 similar situations.

Current conditions come from an official NWS observing station, such as Logan Airport for Boston, which sits on Boston Harbor. Temperatures and winds a few miles inland, or in the shelter of buildings, can differ, especially during sea breezes. Many phone apps show computer-model estimates rather than a measured observation.

Boston Harbor usually has two high tides and two low tides each day. Coastal flooding is most likely when a storm’s wind and surge arrive near high tide. The tide table on this page shows NOAA’s astronomical predictions, which do not include storm surge, so always follow NWS coastal flood alerts.

The City of Boston announces snow emergencies and parking bans on boston.gov and through its AlertBoston notifications. Our weather posts link to those announcements when they are made.

Call 911 in a life-threatening emergency. For preparedness and recovery information, see the City of Boston Office of Emergency Management and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). During the Atlantic hurricane season, June 1 to Nov. 30, follow the National Hurricane Center.