BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14 2003 TODAY MARKS DAY NUMBER 4 WITH WEST WINDS GUSTING WELL PAST 40 MPH... Winds increased dramatically late this morning and early afternoon. Between 10 and 11 a.m. the wind was only around 10 MPH WSW but the speed doubled after 11 a.m. and by 1 p.m. gusts were easily exceeding 40 MPH with a peak to 46 MPH registered on Aerovane and that beats yesterday's peak of 45 MPH. This morning's low of -5.0 in the Hazen shelter exactly equaled the winter's low of -5.0 on January 28th. The drop in temperature was quite dramatic starting about 3:30 a.m. as a cold front passed by. West winds, even a little WSW, between midnight and 3 a.m. kept the temperature from dropping much so that at midnight it was 7 and 3 a.m. was 4 above. But then a really sharp began as the wind veered from west to north-northwest to north and diminished to 8 to 12 MPH between 4 and 7 a.m. The low reading occurred at about 6:45 a.m. (sunrise is at 6:42 a.m. ). By early this afternoon the sky was full of virga from the cumulus clouds. Visibility had increased to 75 miles and temperatures had risen to 18 degrees shortly before 1 p.m. Here are some of our record low temperatures over the next couple of days as the strongest installment of Arctic air comes our way. If the wind turns north-northwest to north, that is the e direction from which cometh the coldest of the cold air historically here at Blue Hill. 2/15 18 below in 1943 & record low max. 10 in 1943 2/16 16 below in 1943 & record low max. 10 in 1923 2/17 16 below in 1896 & record low max. 05 in 1922 SPECIAL REPORT....7:45 A.M. 5 BELOW EQUALS LOWEST FOR WINTER TO DATE ALSO ON JANUARY 28TH... THREE DEGREES SHORT OF RECORD LOW OF -08 SET THIS DATE IN 1979... LOW OF -5 (-5.0 IN HAZEN SHELTER) AND -5 ON ASOS occurring about 6:45 a.m. this morning just minutes after sunrise exactly equaled our previous low for this winter on January 28th. The low of -5 was three degrees short of the record -8 set in 1979. Yesterday's high was 17 degrees (17.4) and low of 4 occurred in the morning; our temperature was still up at 6 above zero as late as 1 a.m. this morning. YESTERDAY: 17/4/mean of 11 is 17 degrees colder than normal and brings the monthly departure to minus 14; February averaging 1.3 degrees colder than normal daily. January averaged 5.4 degrees colder than normal. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 2/14/2003 FRI 7 a.m. BHO SA 1155 CLR 20 190/-5/-17/3408/009/ CU/SC OFFSHR NE-SE AND DSNT SSE-S ARCTIC SEA SMOKE VSB OVR OCEAN SFC NE HAZY ALQDS WNDCHILL -22/ 8/400/ 4/009 51023 10006 21005 10 a.m. BHO SA 1455 CLR 45 207/6/-12/2705/014/ CUFRA/CU FRMG SE-W FEW CU/SC OFFSHR NE-E/ 8/400/ 50017 1 p.m. BHO SA 1755 55 SCT 80 186/17/-7/2724G36/008/ VIRGA ALQDS PK WND 2736/55/ 8/400/ 58021 10018 21005 THE DATA RECORDED FOR THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13 TEMPERATURES ARE CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAX: 17 MIN: 04 ASOS MAX: 17 ASOS MIN: 04 MEAN: 11 [17 ] AVERAGE HIGH/LOW/MEAN: 36/20/28 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR FEBRUARY TO DATE IS - 14 DEGREES (- 1.3 PER DAY) PRECIPITATION FOR 02/14 UPDATED AS OF 7 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.......0.00 IN TOTAL FOR ASOS............0.00 IN TOTAL FOR FEBRUARY........1.95 INS(STD GAGE) DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE....0.06 IN TOTAL ASOS FOR FEB........1.71 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS.... 0.0 INS FEBRUARY SNOWFALL.........26.9 INS SEASONAL SNOWFALL.........70.9 IN TOTAL 2003 PRECIPITATION..4.83 INS DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE...-1.84 INS WIND DATA FOR THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13 2003 PEAK GUST ASOS: 42 MPH W AT 1:53 P.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 45 MPH W AT 1:53 P.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 44 MPH W AT 1:53 P.M. FEB. 2003 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... BELOW IS ORDER OF DATA REPORTED.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL /SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST/Aero Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM = thunderstorm day ... SUNSHINE DATA NOT YET AVAILABLE 2/1 32/29/31/+5/0.21/1.5/000/00/ 28 NNE 2/2 36/31/34/+8/0.72/5.0/000/00 48 NW Aerovane 55 MPH NW 2/3 42/32/37/+11/0/0/.../../ 46 WNW Aerovane 52 MPH NW 2/4 46/34/40/+14/0.19/0/000/00 46 W Aerovane 46 MPH 2/5 36/18/27/0/0/0/.../../ 47 W Aerovane 48 MPH WNW 2/6 28/14/21/-6/0/0/.../../ 30 W 2/7 25/20/23/-3/0.67/17.0/.../.. 27 WNW (daily melted precip. corrected) 2/8 27/9/18/-9/0/0/.../.. 28 SW 2/9 34/14/24/-3/0/0/.../.. 29 WSW Aerovane 32 MPH SW 2/10 35/22/29/+2/0.10/1.4/.../.. 24 S 2/11 27/12/20/-7/0.02/0.4/.../.. 46 W Aerovane 54 MPH W 2/12 29/11/20/-8/0.04/1.4/.../../ 62 WNW Aerovane 62 MPH WNW 2/13 17/4/11/-17/0/0/497/79 44 W Aerovane 45 MPH W 2/14 morning low -05 Aerovane 46 MPH W (preliminary) RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 14 HIGH 56 IN 1949 LOW -08 IN 1979 PRECIP 1.95 INCHES IN 1940 SNOWFALL 11.0 INCHES IN 1914 PEAK GUST 83 MPH SSW IN 2000 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 15 HIGH 60 IN 1954 LOW -18 IN 1943 PRECIP 1.28 INCHES IN 1950 SNOWFALL 11.2 INCHES IN 1940 PEAK GUST 94e MPH WNW IN 1946 e = estimated Robert Skilling