BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 MONDAY OCTOBER 13 2003 COLUMBUS DAY DISCUSSION AT 2 P.M. EXCEPTIONALLY CLEAR AND BEAUTIFUL COLUMBS DAY WITH PERFECTLY CLEAR SKIES, VISIBILITY UP TO 80 MILES HEAVY RAINFALL ON SUNDAY LEAVES 2 INCHES IN BOSTON AND 3/4 INCH HERE AT BLUE HILL AND 1.62 INCHES AT HINGHAM COOP STATION Very clear skies and great visibility for this Columbus Day. It was a bit breezy this morning with peak gusts over 30 MPH NW for awhile. The peak gust of 35 MPH NW occurred at 10:40 a.m. The air temperature has reached the middle 60's early this afternoon with dewpoints in the mid-40's. Sunday's rainfall was unpredictedly heavy along east coastal Massachusetts with 2.00 at Boston's Logan airport, 1.62 inches at our Hingham coop station and up to 2.5 inches at Beverly and Rockport. Here at Blue Hill it rained a maximum amount of 0.3 inch in one hour ending at 2 p.m. and 0.5 inch in two hours ending at 3:13 p.m. and a total of 0.74 inch for the day. That was the standard gage total and ASOS tipping bucket was not far behind with 0.71 inch. The slightly milder than normal temperatures over the past five days have not been nearly enough positive departure to erase a large negative departure from the first week of the month. TODAY'S OBS... 10/13/2003 MON COLUMBUS DAY 8 A.M. BHO SA 1155 CLR 80 101/51/45/3115/983/ GUST TO 23 KTS PST HR/ 51023 MANUAL 70072 ASOS 70069 10056 20051 11 A.M. BHO SA 1455 CLR 80 107/59/43/3215G24/985/ PK WND 3230/40/ WND 30V36/ 50006 2 P.M. BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 102/65/42/3114G21/983/ GST 24 KTS PST HR/ 58005 10066 20051 THE DATA RECORDED FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 12..... TEMPERATURES ARE CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAX: 57 MIN: 51 ASOS MAX: 56 ASOS MIN: 51 MEAN: 54 [ +1 ] AVERAGE HIGH/LOW/MEAN: 62/44/53 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR OCTOBER TO DATE: - 22 deg. OCTOBER IS AVERAGING 2.0 DEGREES COOLER THAN NORMAL TO DATE... PRECIPITATION UPDATED ON 10/13 at 8 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M..........0.72 IN TOTAL FOR ASOS...............0.69 IN CALENDAR DAY FOR 10/12.......0.74 IN [STANDARD GAGE ] CALENDAR DAY FOR ASOS .......0.71 IN [ASOS ] TOTAL FOR OCT TO DATE........0.96 IN [STANDARD GAGE ] DEPARTURE OCT TO DATE.......-0.72 IN TOTAL FOR ASOS OCT TO DATE...0.97 IN TOTAL 2003 PRECIPITATION..41.24 IN DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE....+2.88 IN WIND DATA FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 12 2003 TIMES: EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME PEAK GUST ASOS: 29 MPH NNE AT 10:55 A.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 33 MPH NNE AT 10:55 A.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 33 MPH NNE AT 10:55 A.M. [and earlier occurrence ] MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE WIND: 22 MPH NNE AT 11:27 A.M. OCTOBER 2003 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... BELOW IS THE ORDER OF DATA REPORTED.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM = thunderstorm day .../.. no sunshine data yet available 10/01 63/47/55/-2/T/078/11 21 MPH WSW 10/02 62/37/50/-6/0.05/421/60 38 MPH WNW Aero 42 MPH W 10/03 57/35/46/-10/0/672/96 27 MPH S 10/04 58/43/51/-5/0.17/028/04 43 MPH SW Aero 46 MPH SW 10/05 57/41/49/-6/0/458/66 29 MPH W Aero 31 MPH W 10/06 57/38/48/-7/0/692/100 22 MPH W 10/07 60/38/49/-6/0/655/95 23 MPH SSW 10/08 71/47/59/+5/0/611/89 31 MPH WSW 10/09 71/54/63/+9/0/.../.. 21 MPH WSW 10/10 63/51/57/+3/0/.../.. 21 MPH NE 10/11 60/49/55/+2/0/.../.. 23 MPH NE 10/12 57/51/54/+1/0.74/000/00 33 MPH NNE 10/13 a.m. low temp. 51 deg. peak a.m. gust 35 MPH NW OUR DAILY EXTREMES... RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 13 HIGH 84F IN 1930, 1954 LOW 30F IN 1934,1936,1988 PRECIP 5.92 INCHES IN 1895 SNOWFALL 4.2 INS IN 1934 PEAK GUST 46e MPH W IN 1950 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 14 HIGH 79F IN 2000 LOW 28F IN 1958 PRECIP 2.69 INCHES IN 1990 SNOWFALL 2.0 INS IN 1913 PEAK GUST 63e MPH W IN 1976 Today's Report by: Robert Skilling