BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 MONDAY MARCH 10 2003 DISCUSSION FOR TODAY AT 1:00 P.M. STRONG W-WNW WINDS FOLLOW IN THE WAKE OF ANOTHER ARCTIC COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE SUNDAY...GUSTS REACH 55 MPH IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON.. Gusty SSW winds reached gusts of 50 MPH early Sunday morning as milder air arrived ahead of an approaching Arctic cold front then early Sunday afternoon gusty winds peaked at 55 MPH W on the Aerovane wind system at 1:52 p.m. A brief light snow flurry occurred in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning and a rain shower occurred just about 24 hours later early Sunday morning. Only a trace of precipitation was recorded for each of these minor events. Temperatures reached the mid-40's for highs on both Saturday and Sunday here at the Observatory with two 46-degree days and thus for the maximum temperatures each day averaged 3 degrees milder than normal. However, minimum temperatures of 23 and 15 averaged out to 19 degrees or 7 degrees colder than normal. The widely ranging temperatures averaged out just slightly below normal but we hang on to a significantly colder than normal March still averaging 5 degrees BELOW normal. This morning low temperature reading of 10.2 degrees in the Hazen shelter was far below the normal low for this date of 26 degrees but well above the record for the date of 2 above zero in 1984. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 3/10/2003 MON BHO SA 1155 CLR 50 154/11/-2/2611/998/ FEW CUFRA/CU ALG/OFFSHR NE-SE FEW AC DSNT NW VSBY WNW 45 LGT HAZE/ 8/100/ 4/008 53015 10014 20010 BHO SA 1455 CLR 50 151/20/-3/2615G19/998/ CU FRMG VCNTY STN OVHD-S-W-N FEW THN CI/CC NE-S LGT HAZE ALQDS/ 8/109/ 58003 BHO SA 1755 E45 BKN 50 145/21/0/2820G27/996/ VIRGA ALQDS PK WND 2632/35/ 8/400/ 58006 10022 20011 THE DATA RECORDED FOR SUNDAY MARCH 09 TEMPERATURES ARE CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAX: 46 MIN: 15 ASOS MAX: 46 ASOS MIN: 15 MEAN: 31 [ -3 ] AVERAGE HIGH/LOW/MEAN: 43/26/34 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR MARCH TO DATE: - 43 DEGREES; 5.0 BELOW AVERAGE PRECIPITATION FOR 03/10 UPDATED AS OF 7 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.......0.00 INS TOTAL FOR ASOS............0.00 INS TOTAL FOR MARCH...........1.69 INS DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....+0.34 INS TOTAL FOR FEBRUARY........5.76 INS(STD GAGE) DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE...+1.85 INS TOTAL ASOS FOR FEB........4.98 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS.... 0.0 INS MARCH SNOWFALL............9.3 INS FEBRUARY SNOWFALL.........51.3 INS SEASONAL SNOWFALL........104.6 INS TOTAL 2003 PRECIPITATION..10.33 INS DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE...+0.14 INS WIND DATA FOR SUNDAY MARCH 09 2003 PEAK GUST ASOS: 49 MPH W AT 1:52 P.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 55 MPH W AT 1:52 P.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 50 MPH W AT 1:52 P.M. MARCH 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 Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM = thunderstorm day 3/1 40/23/32/0/0.02/0.2/209/31/ 23 S 3/2 43/30/37/+5/1.01/0.1/000/00/ 32 WNW 3/3 33/5/19/-11/0/0/.../.. 48 WNW Aerovane 57 MPH WNW 3/4 32/2/17/-16/0/0/.../.. 35 SSW Aerovane 38 MPH SSW 3/5 43/30/37/+4/0.12/000/00/ 32 S 3/6 38/11/25/-8/0.54/9.0/000/00 28 NNW TSTM 3/7 30/5/18/-15/0/0/.../.. 28 SSW 3/8 46/23/35/+1/T/T/.../.. 40 S 3/9 46/15/31/-3/T/0/.../.. 50 W Aerovane 55 MPH W 3/10 morning low 10 deg. RECORDS FOR MARCH 10 HIGH 69 IN 1977 LOW 02 IN 1984 PRECIP 2.00 INCHES IN 1994 SNOWFALL 4.0 INCHES IN 1997 PEAK GUST 80 MPH NW IN 1974 RECORDS FOR MARCH 11 HIGH 65 IN 1967 LOW 04 IN 1939,1960 PRECIP 2.11 INCHES IN 1901 SNOWFALL 6.3 INCHES IN 1934 PEAK GUST 66e MPH W IN 1980 e = estimated Today's report by: Robert Skilling