As I had done more and more work as a photographer in Boston, the weather and how it changes has become unavoidable, and it’s scary to me sometimes.
I grew up in New England and I’m used to the idea of classic New England weather as it’s often called.
The unique weather patterns of the region was something that was a part of my life. I was used to leaving the house with shorts on in the morning and later freezing by the time I got home at night.
When I got into photography, the weather was something I always noticed through my lens and on my screens when I went through my photos.
As a photographer in Boston, especially this winter, the freezing and thawing of Boston is something that has me concerned.
Over the course of a month I photographed blizzards and bitter cold only to see the city thaw out as I took photos in shorts the next week.
The next week I saw fake snow being put outside of my dorm at 10 West for a movie based in the wintertime, only to have half a foot of real snow fall just a few days later.
February snowstorms in Boston are not extreme weather by any means.
However, when they sandwich with extreme thawing as the temperature rises to 60 plus degrees, it makes me wonder what effects this will have on the city in the decades to come as climate change causes more extreme weather patterns.
I’m not saying beach days are coming a day after snow days anytime soon, but it makes me wonder if that is the future for the city, the economy and the infrastructure.
Will intense thawing overwhelm the drainage system of the city, flooding the harbor and wreaking havoc on homes, businesses and the already waterlogged aquarium T stop?
Will warm days followed by blizzards the next leave the city’s homeless waking up shivering and confused and emergency services ill prepared for what they’ll face day to day?
What does a freezing and thawing Boston mean?
