BOSTON – If you are thinking it is too early to talk snow, here’s a reminder that you have just 39 shopping days until Christmas. Before you know it, the flakes will be flying … but how soon, exactly?
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When does Boston see the first snow of the season?
Looking strictly at averages, our first measurable snowfall in the city of Boston comes around Nov. 28, which just so happens to be Thanksgiving this year.
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Farther inland, the first measurable snow date is earlier. In Worcester for example, the average is Nov. 18.
These “first” dates have been trending later and later in recent years. Last year it took until Dec. 6th in Boston to measure some snow. Since 2015, it has only snowed twice in the city before Thanksgiving.
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Widening the scope a bit, we see the average date of the first inch of snow in Boston is Dec. 11 (Nov. 26 in Worcester).
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The first 3″+ storm in Boston comes on Dec. 27 (Dec 11. in Worcester).
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We are getting fewer and fewer white Christmases in recent years. Technically there is about a 50-50 chance north and west of Boston, but you might want to bet the under on that proposition in our current climate state.
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Boston’s last big snowstorm
What about bigger storms, you ask? Well, we kind of don’t get those anymore. That’s a bit of sarcasm, but it has been nearly 1,000 days since the city of Boston had 4″ or more in a single storm, the longest such streak on record.
We have to go all the way back to Feb. 25, 2022, for what some would call a “real” snowstorm.
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The last two winters have both placed in the Top 5 least snowy winters in Boston’s recorded history.
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If keep this up, we are going to forget how to drive in snow.
How much snow will Boston see this winter?
Is this winter going to be another “dud”? Sorry to be a tease but you’re going to have to wait until next Thursday for that answer. This is when we are airing our official WBZ Winter Weather Forecast!
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For now, there is no snow in the forecast in the short term. There are some hints of a possible pattern change (colder/wetter) in the 7-14 day period but frankly, we’ll believe it when we see it.
Many of you could have cleared the snow over the last few paltry years with a dust buster. Still, it can’t hurt to gas up the snowblower and give it a test run sometime soon.
Terry Eliasen, Exec. Weather Producer
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Terry Eliasen is a meteorologist and executive producer of the WBZ-TV Weather Team. He has worked at WBZ for more than 20 years.
Jose Pineda, 62, a Salvadoran immigrant who has legal status in the U.S., spent two days in a Burlington ICE facility under “cruel and inhumane conditions,” his attorneys say.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen in Park Ridge, Ill., Sept. 19, 2025. AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File
An East Boston father is suing ICE, alleging immigration agents unlawfully stopped, arrested, and detained him because of his race and national origin despite having his legal status, his lawyers said.
Lawyers for Civil Rights filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Jose Pineda, a 62-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades and is authorized to remain and work through humanitarian relief, the nonprofit legal organization said in a press release.
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The suit is seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, and severe emotional distress.
“I came to the United States to escape the civil war that devastated El Salvador. I worked hard, started a family, and built a life here,” said Pineda, who works as a landscaper and lives with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. “I never expected to feel that kind of fear again, much less in the United States.”
According to the 30-page complaint, written by LCR senior attorneys Victoria Miranda and Mirian Albert, Pineda has been a recipient of Temporary Protected Status, which allows certain foreign nationals from designated countries to live and work legally in the U.S.
Pineda also had a pending asylum petition and had been granted a T visa, which provides immigration protections to trafficking victims, the complaint states.
“We will not stand idly by as ICE wreaks havoc on immigrant families. Through racial profiling, ICE agents are carrying out an unquestionably discriminatory agenda,” Miranda said in the release. “The law exists to protect people like Mr. Pineda, and it must be enforced against ICE.”
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The lawsuit stems from a May 2025 encounter in Weymouth, where Pineda was driving a landscaping truck to a job site when agents in unmarked ICE vehicles surrounded him, according to the complaint.
“The aggressive nature of the questioning made it clear to Mr. Pineda that he was not being judged based on any evidence of unlawful conduct, but rather on his identity, race, ethnicity, and/or national origin,” Pineda’s attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit alleges ICE officers then “forcibly” handcuffed and shackled Pineda before taking him to the agency’s field office in Burlington.
Officers searched Pineda’s belongings during the stop and again at the field office, allegedly confiscating $600 in cash that he intended to use to pay his family’s rent. The money has not been returned, according to the complaint.
Pineda spent two days in ICE custody under what the lawsuit describes as “cruel and inhumane conditions.”
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“After what ICE did to me, and after everything my family has endured, I don’t know if I will ever truly feel safe again,” Pineda said.
According to the complaint, he was held in severely overcrowded cells containing more than 40 people — at times as many as 60 — leaving little room to sit and forcing him to remain standing for much of his detention. Detainees also allegedly shared a single toilet and sink without soap or toilet paper and were not provided toothbrushes, clean clothes, or showers.
Fluorescent lights remained on around the clock, making it difficult to sleep, while temperatures became “extremely cold” overnight and some detainees received only aluminum blanekts for warmth, the complaint states.
Pineda was given only a two-minute phone call during his detention and received two bottles of water each day, along with “inadequate and limited” food and water, according to the complaint.
“Mr. Pineda has suffered devastating and ongoing physical and emotional harm that has impacted all aspects of his life,” his attorneys wrote. “Mr. Pineda brings this action to seek accountability for these violent and traumatizing tortious acts of the ICE officers and to address the harms inflicted upon him.”
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According to LCR, Pineda was released following advocacy by Centro Presente, a Massachusetts immigrant rights organization.
After his release, ICE initiated removal proceedings against him depsite his humanitarian protections, the organization said. Those proceedings were ultimately dismissed.
“ICE targeted Mr. Pineda based on nothing more than his perceived national origin and the nature of his work,” Albert said in the press release. “Our laws prohibit this kind of arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Through this lawsuit, we seek to hold the federal government accountable for the violence and harm inflicted on Mr. Pineda.”
ICE referred questions about the lawsuit to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
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