Boston Smashes Christmas Eve Temperature Record

The calendar says Christmas Eve but the temperatures in Massachusetts say spring.

The National Weather Service reported that Boston and Worcester both set record-high temperatures on Thursday and some parts of the state touched 70 degrees, virtually unheard of in December in Massachusetts.

By mid-afternoon the mercury had climbed to a record-setting 68 degrees at Boston's Logan International Airport and some people could be seen strolling through the downtown area in shorts and T-shirts.

That shattered the previous Boston high for the date -- 61, set in 1996.

Boston has now had 17 days this month of temperatures at or above 50. That's also a record.

As WBUR meteorologist David Epstein put it in his morning forecast: "Historically, this December is going to be remembered for a lot of records -- all of them warm."

The temperature reached 65 degrees Thursday in Worcester, where the previous record had been 57 degrees.

A 70-degree reading was recorded at mid-afternoon at Norwood Memorial Airport, south of Boston.

Epstein said Christmas Day will be mostly sunny, with a high near 60.

"All in all, this is a stunningly warm 24- to 48-hour period for the end of December," Epstein wrote.

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom