Boston weather in October

Boston's own foliage runs late, and the forum is consistent about it: early October is too early in the city, peak colour lands at the very end of October into the first days of November, and by around 20 October much of the greater-Boston leaf can already be down if there has been an early freeze or a heavy storm. For colour earlier in the month regulars send you out of the city — west to the Berkshires, or north into New Hampshire and Vermont, all car trips. The weather meanwhile is mild for the latitude: highs near 17°C, cooling to about 10 at night.

Regulars describe the first half of the month as often quite hot and humid, though the intensity typically backs off from July's peak - a pattern regulars are candid doesn't always hold, since some summers bring heat waves that persist well into August regardless. Our row backs the warm, humid read, 28.7C reading as a hot 30C at 73 percent humidity, over 19.1C nights, with 85.5mm of rain across 7.7 days. Regulars planning day trips to Cape Cod, Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard treat this month as prime season for exactly that kind of coastal escape from the city heat. The sea sits at 18.7C. The record: 10.7 hours of sun, a 16.7 kph wind and AQI 52.

May warms faster here than any other month - regulars put the end of it near 72F by day and 55F at night, which is a different city from the one that started the month. Our averages sit in the middle at 20.3C over 10.4C, reading as 19C and 7C in a 19.6 kph wind. It is also among the driest months, 78mm across 9 days, so the waterproof is optional in a way it rarely is here. What is not optional is a layer for the water: the harbour is 13.4C, and whether the day feels like spring or like March depends mostly on which way the wind is coming off it. The record: humidity 73 percent, 9.7 hours of sun inside 14.6 of daylight, and AQI 43.

Regulars will not forecast June here, they give a range: the fifties to the nineties, warm by day with any of hot, humid, rainy or chilly at night. Our row's 26C over 15.7C is the middle of that and not a promise. Their packing list follows from it - plan for the eighties, add a sweater and a waterproof layer, and treat everything as removable. Rain is 79.6mm across 8.8 days. One number worth knowing before booking a boat: the harbour is 16.8C this month, so a morning on the water is a jacket occasion whatever the city is doing, helped along by an 18 kph wind. The record: humidity 73 percent, 11 hours of sun inside 15.2 of daylight, and AQI 51.

Boston-forum threads on September timing point past Labor Day: September 1st is the city's biggest moving day, when students and families flood in, and the holiday weekend right after is one of the busiest of the year. Regulars say the reward for waiting is real - mid-to-late September turns noticeably more relaxed once move-in is done, with thinner crowds and cheaper rooms than either summer or the foliage season that follows. Weather holds up too: early September is still warm enough for the beach, usually less humid than August though posters admit there's no guarantee. The record: 24C days, 15.1C nights, 83mm of rain across 7.3 days, 8.5 hours of sun and a 19.3C sea - good swimming weather if you can dodge the moving trucks.