BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 MONDAY DECEMBER 29 2003 LOOMING OF THE MOUNTAINS 45 TO 60 MILES TO WEST-NORTHWEST THROUGH\ NORTHWEST HAS BEEN OBSERVED THIS MORNING AS A DARK SMOKE LAYER WAS TRAPPED BELOW A TEMPERATURE INVERSION TEMPERATURES AVERAGING 13 DEGREES WARMER THAN NORMAL FOR THE PAST WEEK EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ABOVE NORMAL RIGHT INTO THE NEW YEAR UNSEASONABLY MILD TEMPERATURES BUT NO RECORDS AT CHRISTMASTIME THIS YEAR.....DAILY DEPARTURE OF +22 DEG. ON 12/24 WAS OUR GREATEST DAILY SURPLUS SINCE APRIL 17, 2002 Despite good wind ventilation here this morning a smoke layer (brown ring) seemed to appear most dense at mid-morning. At the same time "looming" of the distant mountains was also being observed owing to the unusual temperature inversion existing. Looming is the term applied to the bending of the light rays making the mountain summits take on unsual forms. In this case the tops were very squared off as we looked toward them. Temperatures continued to soar far above the normals again today for the 8th consecutive day of this unseasonable warmth. The warm temperatures for over a week now have completely erased a cold December(-81 degrees/14th) and soon the month will be running at least two degrees on the warm side of normal. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 12/29/2003 MON 7 a.m. clear with 45 miles view; temp 36; wind sw at 20 mph... BHO SA 1155 CLR 45 197/36/23/2217/011/ FEW AC/ACSL DSNT SE-SW AND FEW CI DSNT SE-S THN K LYR ALG HRZN NE-SE-SW VSBY WNW 55 ABV INVSN/ 8/041/ 56012 10039 20035 10 a.m. clear with 50 miles visibility and dark smoke layer along horizons; temp. 45; wind sw at 15 g24 mph BHO SA 1455 CLR 50 196/45/24/2313G21/011/ AC DSNT S-SW CI SSE-SW-N DRK K LYR ALG HRZNS SW-NW-NE VSBY NW 60 LOOMING OF THE MTNS 45 WNW-60 NW/ 8/031/ 58001 1 p.m. high thin scattered with 60 miles visibility; temp 56; wind ssw at 16 mph...rh 30% BHO SA 1755 250 -SCT 300 -SCT 60 168/56/25/2114/003/ FEW AC/ACSL DSNT W-WNW LWR DENSE CI SE-SW K LYR ALG HRZN W-N-E VSBY NW 70/ 8/042/ 58028 10056 20036 THE DATA RECORDED FOR SUNDAY DECEMBER 28TH TEMPERATURES ARE CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAX: 51 MIN: 30 ASOS MAX: 50 ASOS MIN: 30 MEAN: 42 [ + 13 ] TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR DECEMBER TO DATE: + 24 DEGREES (+0.7 DEGREES/DAY) PRECIPITATION UPDATED ON 12/29 at 7 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.00 IN [STANDARD GAGE] TOTAL FOR ASOS...............0.00 IN DECEMBER ASOS TOTAL..........7.55 IN TOTAL FOR DEC TO DATE........8.19 IN [STANDARD GAGE] DECEMBER DEPARTURE TO DATE..+4.08 IN TOTAL 2003 PRECIPITATION....57.77 IN DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE......+7.92 IN SNOWFALL UPDATED ON 12/29 at 7 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 IN TOTAL FOR DECEMBER..........29.7 IN TOTAL FOR 2003-2004 SEASON..30.2 IN WIND DATA FOR SUNDAY DECEMBER 28 2003 PEAK GUST ASOS: 23 MPH SW AT 11:59 P.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 27 MPH SW AT 11:59 P.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 24 MPH SW AT 11:59 P.M. FASTEST 2-MINUTE MILE BY ASOS: 20 MPH SW at 11:59 P.M. DECEMBER 2003 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... BELOW IS THE ORDER OF DATA REPORTED.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST/ AERO GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM = thunderstorm day .../.. no sunshine data yet available 12/1 49/29/39/+3/0/0/342/61/ 59 WNW Aero 60 mph WNW 12/2 31/12/22/-14/0.02/0.3/301/54/ 46 WNW Aero 49 mph NW 12/3 27/10/19/-16/0/0/551/99 33 WNW Aero 36 mph WNW 12/4 36/15/26/-9/T/0.1/356/64 25 W 12/5 29/13/21/-14/0.10/1.0/200/36 44 ENE 12/6 31/21/26/-9/2.78/17.0/000/00 58 NNE 12/7 26/22/24/-10/0.66/6.3/000/00 46 NW 12/8 33/20/27/-6/0/0/540/98 35 WNW 12/9 35/19/27/-6/0/0/418/76 17 N 12/10 37/30/34/+1/0/0/000/00 27 ESE 12/11 53/37/45/+13/1.10/0/000/00 58 SSE Aero 58 MPH SSE 12/12 39/26/33/+1/0/0/548/100 51 W 12/13 29/17/23/-9/0/0/543/99 33 WNW 12/14 37/12/25/-6/1.20/5.0/000/00 59 E Aero 61 MPH E 12/15 39/25/32/+1/0.95/0/071/13 61 WNW Aero 66 MPH WNW 12/16 40/22/31/0/0/0/496/91 35 W 12/17 53/36/45/+14/0.72/0/000/00 62 SSE Aero 61 MPH SE 12/18 38/26/33/+3/T/0/.../.. 54 SW 12/19 38/24/31/0/0/.../.. 22 W 12/20 36/23/30/0/0/0/.../.. 25 WNW 12/21 32/17/25/-5/0/0/343/63 31 SW 12/22 49/31/40/11/0/0/.../.. 28 WSW 12/23 53/41/47/+18/0/0/.../.. 37 S 12/24 57/45/51/+22/0.60/0/011/02 48 SSE ** 12/25 51/32/42/+13/0.06/0/.../.. 38 W 12/26 35/29/32/+4/T/T/.../.. 38 WSW 12/27 46/30/38/+10/0/0/.../.. 39 NW 12/28 51/30/41/+13/0/0/.../.. 24 SW 12/29 morning low temp. 35 deg. ** daily temp. dep. of +22 deg was greatest any day since +25 4/17/2002.... NEW DAILY RECORDS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED THIS MONTH.... 12/6....17.0 inches of snow; old record 12.0 ins in 1886, 1981 12/6....2.78 of melted precipitation; old record 2.36 in 1945 ** 12/7.... 6.3 inches; old record 4.0 in 1886 OUR DAILY EXTREMES.... RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 29 HIGH 72 IN 1984 LOW -19 IN 1933 (RECORD FOR DECEMBER) PRECIP 1.91 INS. IN 1945 SNOWFALL 18.4 INS. IN 1945 PEAK GUST 95 MPH S IN 1966 (RECORD FOR DECEMBER) RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 30 HIGH 60 IN 1984 LOW -18 IN 1933 PRECIP 1.48 INS. IN 1891 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 1956 PEAK GUST 81 MPH WNW IN 1962 Today's Report By: Robert Skilling