Boston Marathon runners are set to wake up to a colder-than-normal race day Monday, after a front with showers is expected to clear Eastern Massachusetts before sunrise. The race in Hopkinton should begin in chilly, dry and breezy conditions, with temperatures near the upper 30s or low 40s.
Those readings are expected to run about 10 to 15 degrees below average for the Boston area. By afternoon, temperatures should only climb into the mid- to upper 40s, while winds of 15 to 20 mph could make it feel more like the mid-30s early and the low 40s later in the day.
The timing matters because the front is expected to move out before the wheelchair race begins Monday morning, leaving the opening miles free of the rain that threatened parts of the region earlier in the weekend. For runners and spectators, it is a sharp turn from last year, when morning temperatures reached the mid-50s after scattered showers passed overnight and the day later warmed to 73 degrees under clear skies.
Monday’s setup is also colder than the recent norm. Over the past 10 marathons, the average daily high has been 61 degrees, and the coldest race day since 2000 came in 2018, when the high reached only 43 degrees. Rain has fallen on four of the last 10 races, and the course last ran in wet conditions in 2023.
The bigger pattern heading into race day has been a stretch of warming temperatures punctuated by rounds of showers and thunderstorms, but that is giving way to cooler air from Canada behind Sunday evening’s front. Forecasters say the exact timing could still shift a little, and a stray sprinkle or even a flurry is not out of the question Monday morning.
That said, the basic answer for Marathon Monday is already clear: Boston is in for a cool, breezy and mostly dry start, not the kind of spring warmth that often defines the race. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya still owns the course record from 2011, when he finished in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds, and Monday’s weather is unlikely to give anyone an easier chase.
