BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2008 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME UNLESS NOTED LONG STRETCH OF SUNNY AND DRY WEATHER CONTINUES SUNSHINE 94% OF POSSIBLE OVER THE PAST SIX DAYS AS INCREASINGLY DRY CONDITIONS CONTINUE The past week has featured very sunny and dry weather and more of the same is expected. Relative humidity has been very low averaging 25% during the afternoons for the past six days. No rain has fallen since last weekend. In addition, we have recorded over 90% of the possible bright sunshine during most of the past week including three consecutive days with 100%. Yesterday morning's unusually warm morning low temperature of 60 degrees would have been a record for the date but for a cool and increasingly moist northeast to easterly wind flow. Temperatures fell steadily into the 50's during the afternoon. We fell back to 46 degrees by midnight. Today's observations: 8 A.M. EDT Weather: Thin broken cirrus Temperature: 48F, Dew point: 39F Wind: ENE at 7 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.25 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 20 miles, 15 miles SW-NW 6-hour min temp: 42F 24-hour precipitation: none BHO SA 1155 250 -SCT 300 -BKN 20 243/48/39/0707/025/ STRA/FG DSNT SW THN FG SW-NW VSBY SW-NW 15 HZY/ 8/001 53014 10048 20042 11 A.M. EDT Weather: High thin overcast, cirrus Temperature: 59F, Dew point: 42F, Wind: NNE at 5 kts Wind: Light and variable Sea-level pressure: 30.29 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 250 -SCT 300 -OVC 25 256/59/42/0205/029/ HAZY WND L/V/ 8/007 51013 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 19 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....70 NORMAL.....57 MIN.....46 NORMAL.....38 MEAN....58 NORMAL.....47 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..........+11 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........+44 [+2.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............7 DEPARTURE.......-11 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........349 DEPARTURE.......-44 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........5486 DEPARTURE......-371 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....5503 DIFFERENCE......-17 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............22 NE AT 2:13 P.M. * AEROVANE.............21 NE AT 2:13 P.M. * ASOS.................21 NNE AT 12:01 P.M. DAVIS................21 NNW AT 3:01 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............15 E AT 6:36 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........16 NE AT 2:15 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........16 NE AT 12:55 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...... 8.3 E ASOS................7.8 DAVIS.............. 8.3 ENE [070 deg] * last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE......-0.14 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.52 DEPARTURE......-1.30 ASOS..............1.66 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........19.12 DEPARTURE......+2.67 ASOS.............21.54 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 2/13/08. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.0 DEPARTURE......-0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR APRIL...................0.0 DEPARTURE......-2.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............66.5 DEPARTURE......+7.5 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR APRIL 2008 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: 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, records not finalized 4/1 59/50/55/+14/0.20/0/000/00 54 S Aero 58 MPH SSW 4/2 47/31/39/-3/0/0/745/97 52 W Aero 51 MPH W 4/3 52/27/40/-2/0/0/648/84 37 SSW 4/4 43/34/39/-3/0.71/0/000/00 35 E 4/5 51/37/44/+1/0.06/0/093/12 21 W 4/6 40/36/38/-5/0.09/0/000/00 36 NE 4/7 39/34/37/-6/0/0/172/22 35 NE Aero 36 MPH NE 4/8 47/30/39/-5/0/0/627/80 22 NE 4/9 59/33/47/+3/0/0/150/19 29 S 4/10 71/44/58/+14/T/0/624/79 34 W 4/11 54/40/47/+2/0.03/096/13 24 SE 4/12 70/43/57/+12/0.43/0/342/43 40 WNW Aero 42 WNW 4/13 47/34/41/-4/T/0/104/13 30 NW 4/14 53/30/42/-4/0/0/625/78 29 NW 4/15 57/33/45/-1/0/0/803/100 23 SSE 4/16 64/39/52/+6/0/0/806/100 24 SSE 4/17 64/14/53/+6/0/0/810/100 23 NE 4/18 70/42/56/+9/0/0/723/89 23 NW 4/19 70/46/58/+11/0/0/799/98 22 NE 4/20 morning low temp. 42F; our normal low is now 39F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR APRIL 2008 None to date. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR APRIL 20 HIGH 88 IN 1927 LOW 18 IN 1897 PRECIP 1.14 IN 1972 SNOWFALL 2.5 IN. IN 1904, 1972 PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1963 RECORDS FOR APRIL 21 HIGH 85 IN 1923 LOW 22 IN 1908 PRECIP 3.18 IN. IN 1991 SNOWFALL 0.8 IN. IN 1947 PEAK GUST 76e MPH NE IN 1940 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Robert Skilling