BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186
ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2003

DAILY DISCUSSION...
CLOUDY TODAY WITH WARMER TEMPERATURES AND RAIN TO MOVE IN
ON THURSDAY...The low temperature so far today at Blue Hill has
been 30 degrees and this has risen to the mid-30s at mid-morning
under a low deck of stratocumulus.  There have been only a few
breaks or thin spots in the overcast to the distant east today,
and a few minutes of dim sunshine occurred at sunrise this
morning.  A thorough survey of snow cover on the summit early
today shows an average of 19 inches on the ground. 

WEEKEND SNOWSTORM WAS THE SIXTH GREATEST ON RECORD, AND THE 
GREATEST FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER...The final storm totals from 
last weekend's storm are 3.54 inches of liquid equivalent 
precipitation and 24.3 inches of snow.  Precipitation lasted
for more than 40 hours from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.
The road to the summit was not plowed until Tuesday afternoon
hampering our recovery efforts, but operations are returning
to normal today.  It's interesting that two of the largest
snowstorms on record have occurred this year:

1) 38.7"  2/24-28/1969
2) 30.3"  3/3-5/1960
3) 30.1"  2/6-7/1978
4) 30.0"  3/31-4/1/1997
5) 24.7"  2/17-18/2003
6) 24.3"  12/5-7/2003 ***
7) 22.2"  2/16-17/1958

The previous largest storm for December was a 20" snowfall
on December 12, 1960.


Today's observations:

7 AM
BHO SA 1155 E20 OVC 30 251/31/28/1308/027/ FEW LWR SC E-SE
BINOVC ALG HRZN DSNT NE-SE WND LGT/ 8/5// 4/019 53003
10031 20030

10 AM
BHO SA 1455 15 SCT E20 OVC 30 252/34/30/1308/027/ FEW LWR SC
DSNT OFFSHR E-SE THN SPTS IOVC DSNT E-S WND LGT/ 8/5// 
53001 


WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9
PEAK WIND GUST FOR FRIDAY...........17 MPH N AT 2:17 AM
                    AEROVANE.........20 MPH N AT 1:50 AM
                    ASOS.............17 MPH N AT 1:49 AM
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR........7.5 MPH, N
                    ASOS..........N/A


PRECIPITATION DATA AT BLUE HILL.....
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM....0.00 IN    DEP....-0.16 IN
                         ASOS.............0.00 IN
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH.........3.56 INS   DEP....+2.12 INS
                         ASOS.............3.38 INS
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........N/A INS   DEP......N/A INS
                         ASOS..............N/A INS


SNOWFALL DATA FOR BLUE HILL...
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM....0.0 IN    DEP....-0.3 IN
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH............24.5 INS   DEP...+21.5 INS
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON...........25.0 INS   DEP...+18.7 INS


RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 10

HIGH   62 IN 1946
LOW    -6 IN 1902
PRE  1.67 INS IN 1907
SNOW  6.0 INS IN 1905
WIND   66 MPH SW IN 1940 (ESTIMATED)

RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 11

HIGH   63 IN 1911
LOW    -1 IN 1988
PRE  2.36 INS IN 1992
SNOW  6.0 INS IN 1894
WIND   78 MPH S IN 1969

Daily wind records are for the period 1940-2002. Temperature and
precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2002.

Mike Iacono