Mild weather is in the forecast for Massachusetts before a brief return to winter

BOSTON – This week's weather headlines include several days in the 50s, a one-day return to winter, and another warming period to follow.

Find out about the expected high temperatures on Wednesday, which will be warmer over the next few days.

Keep in mind that average highs in late February are in the low 40s.

What causes this stretch of mild days? There will be a strong area of ​​low pressure moving west, making its way across the Great Lakes region on Wednesday. Ahead of this storm, long southerly winds will pull an unusually mild air mass to the northeast.

The cold front brings heavy rain and possibly some snow

Along with mild temperatures, there will be a fair amount of cloudiness and some rain.

Clouds will thicken on Tuesday. The first batch of rain is expected to arrive Tuesday night and continue until Wednesday morning.

We should get drier weather during the day Wednesday before a strong cold front arrives Wednesday night, around midnight.

Heavy rain will fall this week in this time frame, between approximately 7pm and 2am, and may even end as a short period of snow as cold air pushes in.

Overall, we expect about an inch of rain over the next few days, possibly up to 2 inches south of Boston.

The weather turns cold with gusty winds on Thursday

Perhaps the most notable weather story this week is the extreme drop in temperatures and strong winds on Thursday.

High temperatures will drop by about 20 degrees between Wednesday and Thursday and winds will blow at 40-50 mph during the day Thursday.

Fortunately, the active/cold air mass will only be here for a short time. Temperatures will rise again in time for the weekend.

Looking longer term, the first two or three weeks of March also look very mild across much of the eastern United States.