2023 Boston Marathon Weather: What's Race Day Looking Like?

Boston Marathon weather looking mainly dry in the morning with showers in the afternoon

It's now officially marathon weekend, so the final countdown has begun. This year's race is looking to feature weather akin to mid-April and many marathons past: cloudy, damp and cool. Here's the breakdown:

RAIN

New England's unusually long (for April) break from rain and unsettled weather looks to end this weekend, just in time for Marathon Monday. A low pressure system will likely track to New England's north. This will, in turn, drag a cold front across the region. In earlier forecasts, I wrote that the timing of this front would be the key to unlocking details of when, and how much rain would fall. The timing of this front is starting to become more clear.

It looks like the front will cross Massachusetts in the afternoon or even evening. This would lead to a drier Monday morning and wetter afternoon. There will be clouds around all day and isolated light showers in the morning, but the start times of the race (ranging from just after 9am to 11:30am) look to be mostly dry.

Shower activity will increase as the afternoon goes on. While the heaviest rain is expected to stay confined to the western part of the state, some isolated heavier downpours are possible in eastern Massachusetts, most likely occurring from 2pm-6pm.

Total rainfall amounts are not expected to be all that high with the afternoon rain, with only areas getting into the heavier downpours seeing upwards of a quarter of an inch. The chances of getting into the heavy downpours decrease as you move eastward.

TEMPERATURES

Probably the best news for the race weather-wise is that the summer heat that enveloped Massachusetts over the past couple days will be long gone by race day. It will be rather chilly, with morning lows in the mid to upper 40s. With the clouds and unsettled weather around, the temperatures will not move all that much during the day, with afternoon highs topping out in the mid 50s.

WIND

It will be a bit breezy, with some higher gusts possible. The wind will be from the east northeast in the morning, switching to due east by midday. Sustained winds will be 10-20 mph with some higher gusts possible, especially when the front passes.