Who ever said economists don’t have a sense of humor?

“With the wonderful New England summer weather now upon us, it may seem unnecessary – and perhaps a bit cruel – to dredge up memories of the brutal winter we experienced here in the Northeast. However, economics has been called the dismal science,” Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said, kicking off a speech he delivered today in Hartford.

But as Rosengren went on to point out, the harsh winter put a damper on economic activity in New England.

“In many parts of New England, record snowfall prevented people from getting to work, shoppers from getting to stores and customers from going out to eat. So clearly, bad weather did deter some economic activity,” he said, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks before the Capital Workforce Partners “Workforce Stars” Event.

Unfortunately, economic data were not just weak during the nadir of winter; they were weak before the storms and have been weaker than expected since, Rosengren said. Furthermore, he added, economic growth for the first half of the year looks to be lower than expected, even after adjusting for some temporary disruptions, and that has implications for monetary policy.

As Rosengren pointed out, the Federal Open Markets Committee has set two criteria for an interest rate hike: further improvement in the labor market and 2 percent inflation. While most economic forecasters are considerably more optimistic for the second half of 2015, Rosengren put forth his view that the conditions are not yet right for a tightening of monetary policy.

In each of the previous tightening cycles, he said, real GDP growth in the two years preceding the tightening was above 3 percent. Today we are faced with a growth rate of 2.3 percent over the past two years, and the strong possibility that growth in the first half of this year will average much less than 2 percent.

“In my view, such a pace of GDP growth does not meet some of the economic preconditions we look for when we begin a tightening cycle,” Rosengren said.

Noting that the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate from Congress is focused on stable prices and maximum sustainable employment, he said that measures of inflation are not yet showing much evidence of returning to the 2 percent target that the Fed considers ideal.

“If the economy continues to grow at the same pace as we witnessed on average in the current and the past two quarters, I do not expect to see timely improvements in the unemployment rate and sufficient progress towards the 2 percent inflation target,” he said. “This, in my view, makes a compelling argument for continued patience in monetary policy.”