BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2005 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME TODAY'S DISCUSSION.... High clouds have overspread the sky today and are thickening early this afternoon. A light haze is reducing visibility to about 30 miles although we could see Mt. Wachusett (45 miles to the WNW) during the morning and that has now disappeared into the haze. The continued milder than normal weather is reducing the December temperature departure to less than 3 degrees now after being up around minus 5 degrees up through the 22nd. Sunshine has been abundant this month and we're currently reporting 58% of the possible bright sunshine for the month to date; normal for December is 46%, TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS.... 7 A.M. thin scattered high clouds, visibility 30 miles but 45 miles above the inversion to the WNW, temp. 26; dewpoint 21; wind SW 09 mph; six hourly min. temp. 26 deg. BHO SA 1155 300 -SCT 30 136/26/21/2308/993/ HZY VSBY WNW 45 ABV INVSN LGT FROST/ 8/001 52003 10027 20025 10 A.M. high thin overcast with 30 miles visibility and 45 miles to the west-northwest; hazy, temp. 35; dewpoint 22; wind S 09 MPH... BHO SA 1455 E150 BKN 220 BKN 250 -OVC 30 146/35/22/1808/996/ PTCHS DENSE CI PARAHELION THN KH ALG HRZNS VSBY WNW 45/ 8/032 51010 1 P.M. high dense overcast with sun visible; visibility 30 miles and hazy; temp. 39; dewpoint 27; wind S 13 MPH; six hourly max. temp. 39 deg; six hourly min. temp. 26 deg. BHO SA 1755 E150 BKN 200 OVC 30 122/39/27/1911/989/ FEW LWR AC/ACSL SUN DMLY VSB HAZY/ 8/077 56024 10039 20026 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....38 NORMAL.....36 HAZEN....38.3 @ 2:11 P.M. MIN.....26 NORMAL.....21 HAZEN....25.7 @ 5:14 A.M. MEAN....32 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......+ 4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......- 69 [- 2.7 deg per day] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..........33 DEPARTURE....- 4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.........968 DEPARTURE....+ 70 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.......2033 DEPARTURE....-148 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE..2181 DIFFERENCE...- 42 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.........44 WNW AT 2:35 A.M. AEROVANE..........50 WNW AT 2:35 A.M. ASOS..............40 WNW AT 6:04 A.M. DAVIS.............43 W AT 4:37 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........32 WNW AT 2:40 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE........32 WNW AT 2:41 A.M. MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.......N/A AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...19.6 WNW ASOS............19.1 WNW [300 deg] DAVIS...........18.9 WNW [300 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE....-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.41 DEPARTURE....-0.55 ASOS..............3.32 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........65.68 DEPARTURE...+15.21 ASOS.............64.47* *EXCLUDES 3.19 INCHES OF ERRONEOUS PRECIPITATION RECORDED FROM 1/23-1/28. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE....- 0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............13.2 DEPARTURE....+ 3.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............15.3 DEPARTURE....+ 3.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 2005......CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER: DATE MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day ....: Data not yet available 12/1 43/35/39/+3/0/0/212/38 29 MPH N 12/2 41/31/36/0/0/0/217/39 46 MPH WSW Aero 51 MPH WSW 12/3 33/26/30/-5/0/0/534/96 46 MPH W Aero 50 MPH W 12/4 28/22/25/-10/0.24/2.2/000/00 22 MPH W 12/5 32/21/27/-8/0/0/061/11 23 MPH WSW 12/6 33/23/28/-6/T/0.1/160/29 31 MPH W Aero 36 MPH W 12/7 28/16/22/-12/T/T/479/87 44 MPH WNW Aero 50 MPH WNW 12/8 31/14/23/-10/0/0/545/99 25 MPH NW 12/9 32/22/27/-6/1.23/10.8/000/00 53 MPH NW Aero 63 MPH NW TSTM/SLEET/GLAZE 12/10 34/21/28/-5/0/0/367/67 30 MPH S 12/11 40/27/34/+2/0/0/493/90 27 MPH SSW 12/12 38/21/30/-2/0/0/241/44 25 MPH W 12/13 21/09/15/-17/T/T/361/66 32 MPH WNW Aero 35 MPH WNW 12/14 23/04/14/-17/0/0/513/94 24 MPH NW 12/15 32/07/20/-11/0/0/464/85 21 MPH E 12/16 48/27/38/+7/0.88/T/000/00 55 MPH ESE Aero 61 MPH ESE/SLEET/GLAZE 12/17 37/26/32/+1/0/0/469 86 25 MPH W 12/18 33/23/28/-2/0/0/213/39 21 MPH W 12/19 31/21/26/-4/T/T/164/30 32 MPH WSW Aero 35 MPH WSW 12/20 31/17/24/-6/0/0/533/98 27 MPH WSW 12/21 28/15/22/-8/0/0/501/92 28 MPH WSW 12/22 30/18/24/-5/0/0/419/77 28 MPH SSW 12/23 43/29/36/+7/0/0/452/83 28 MPH SSW 12/24 48/35/42/+13/0/0/485/89 25 MPH WSW 12/25 49/36/43/+14/0.30/0/300/55 31 MPH E * Aero 35 MPH E 12/26 54/30/42/+14/0.76/0.1/000/00 37 MPH W * Aero 43 MPH WNW 12/27 38/26/32/+4/T/T/469/86 44 MPH WNW Aero 50 MPH WNW * daily precipitation amounts corrected for 25th and 26th... monthly total unchanged 12/28 morning low temp. 25; normal now 20 deg. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): A NEW DAILY EXTREME HAS BEEN SET FOR DECEMBER 2005 12/9 - A NEW MAXIMUM DAILY SNOWFALL OF 10.8 INCHES; the previous record was 6.0 inches in 2001 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 28 HIGH 60 IN 1982 LOW -02 IN 1933 PRECIP 2.16 INS. IN 1967 SNOWFALL 9.5 INS. IN 1967 PEAK GUST 89 MPH SSE IN 1983 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) TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling