BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME FRIGID TEMPERATURES THIS MORNING WITH PARTIAL SUNSHINE EARLY TODAY...CLOUDS LOWERING AT MID-DAY AND PRESSURE FALLING RAPIDLY AS LATEST SNOW STORM BEGINS DEVELOPING SOUTH OF NEW ENGLAND...FIRST SNOW OBSERVED AT 12:55 PM... Arctic cold has moved into New England once again today ahead of the next storm expected the rest of today and into tomorrow. The minimum temperature on the summit this morning was 1F, which was much higher than the sub-zero readings in much of the surrounding area. Nearby Norwood Airport recorded a minimum temperature of -19F this morning, while Bedford, MA was -14F and Worcester reported -3F. Today will be the 20th consecutive day with mean temperatures below average starting back on Jan 26th. Sunshine occurred for a couple of hours early today before mid-level clouds partly obscured the sun and lower clouds moved in by mid-day. The developing area of snow to the south began spreading into southern New England by early afternoon and the first flakes of very light snow were observed on the summit at 12:55 PM EST. The pressure was falling rapidly at 1 PM as the new storm is now moving into the waters south of New England. As of 2:30 PM, the snow has become steadier and the visibility has dropped to about 2 miles. The seasonal snowfall of 103.6 inches has climbed to the eighth highest on record. Here are some of the snowfall lists as of today: BHO Greatest Snowstorms, inches (1885-2015): 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.8 on 26-28 Jan, 2015 3) 30.3 on 3-5 Mar, 1960 4) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 5) 30.0 on 31 Mar - 1 Apr, 1997 6) 29.8 on 6-8 Mar, 2013 7) 27.7 on 7-10 Feb, 2015 8) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 9) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 10) 24.3 on 5-7 Dec, 2003 11) 23.0 on 5-7 Mar, 2001 12) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 13) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 BHO Greatest February Snowstorms, inches (1885-2015): 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 3) 27.7 on 7-10 Feb, 2015 4) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 5) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 6) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 7) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 BHO Snowiest February, inches (1885-2015): 1) 65.4 in 1969 2) 51.3 in 2003 3) 49.7 in 2015 (through Feb 14 at 1:00 PM EST) 4) 45.2 in 1967 5) 40.4 in 1920 6) 39.7 in 2013 7) 37.0 in 1893 BHO Snowiest January-February, inches (1886-2015): 1) 92.6 in 2015 (through Feb 14 at 1:00 PM EST) 2) 77.9 in 1948 3) 70.2 in 2005 4) 68.7 in 1904 5) 67.5 in 1920 6) 66.9 in 1994 BHO Greatest Snow Depth, inches (1895-2015): 1) 43 in March 1969 2) 42 in January 1948 3) 41 in February 1969 4) 39 in February 1948 5) 38 in February 1920 38 in February 2015 6) 33 in February 1978 33 in January 1996 9) 31 in February 2003 31 in February 2011 11)30 in March 1960 30 in March 1978 Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered dense cirrus, thin overcast cirrus, few lower altocumulus, hazy Temperature: 3F; Dew Point: -9F; Wind: S at 6 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.00 ins. Hg, falling then rising, now lower Visibility: 30 miles, hazy 6-hr max temp: 3F 6-hr min temp: 1F 24-hr precip: 0.00 inches 24 hr snowfall: 0.0 inches Snow depth: 34 inches BHO SA 1155 110 SCT 200 SCT 250 -OVC 30 159/3/-9/1906/000/ FEW LWR AC HAZY WND LGT/ 8/031 4/034 55004 10003 20001 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumlus, overcast altocumulus/altostratus, few stratocumulus vicinity station, higher clouds visible distant NE-E, sun dimly visible Temperature: 1F; Dew Point: -1F; Wind: SSE at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 30 miles BHO SA 1455 80 SCT 140 OVC 30 143/13/-1/1610/995/ FEW SC VCNTY STN HIR CLDS VSBL DSNT NE-E SUN DMLY VSBL/ 8/571 58016 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken stratus, overcast altostratus, light snow began 12:55 PM, precipitation very light Temperature: 22F; Dew Point: 10F; Wind: SE at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.83 ins. falling rapidly Visibility: 20 miles 6-hr max temp: 22F 6-hr min temp: 3F 6-hr precip: Trace 6-hr snowfall: Trace BHO SA 1755 40 SCT E60 BKN 85 OVC 20S- 101/22/10/1408/983/ S-B55 PCPN VRY LGT PRESFR/ 8/67/ 58042 10022 20003 SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....20 NORMAL.....36 MIN......2 NORMAL.....19 MEAN....11 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........................-17 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........................-117 [-9.2 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............54 DEPARTURE..........+17 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............616 DEPARTURE.........+116 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3964 DEPARTURE..........-67 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4037 DIFFERENCE.........-73 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................35 WNW AT 8:19 A.M. ASOS.......................37 WNW AT 12:54 A.M. DAVIS......................35 NW AT 5:03 A.M. RMY 35 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................27 WNW AT 10:41 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................26 WNW AT 10:42 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................26 WNW AT 10:41 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............16.7 WNW ASOS.....................15.9 DAVIS....................14.5 WNW [301 degrees] * last of several occurrences... 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..........4.30 DEPARTURE.....+2.52 ASOS...............N/A *** TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........9.47 DEPARTURE.....+3.47 ASOS...............N/A *** *** ASOS February and annual totals not available due to erroneous readings on February 9-10th. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE......-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............49.7 DEPARTURE.....+43.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............103.6 DEPARTURE.....+64.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/RMY GUST RMY: R.M. Young wind gust recording system TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 2/1 28/8/18/-8/0.00/0.0/.../.. 29 WNW RMY N/A 2/2 29/8/19/-7/1.53/16.5/000/00 44 NE RMY 46 2/3 21/0/11/-15/0.00/0.0/.../.. 31 NW RMY N/A 2/4 36/14/25/-1/0.00/0.0/.../.. 31 S RMY 33 2/5 34/4/19/-7/0.15/3.5/.../.. 38 NW RMY 39 2/6 19/-2/9/-17/0.00/0.0/.../.. 28 NW RMY 27 2/7 25/14/20/-7/..../.../.../.. 25 WSW RMY N/A 2/8 29/11/20/-7/..../.../000/00 30 NNE RMY 29 2/9 19/12/16/-11/..../.../000/00 29 N RMY 28 2/10 28/12/20/-7/..../.../.../.. 29 N RMY 29 2/11 24/15/20/-7/0.03/1.4/.../.. 30 N RMY 29 2/12 28/14/21/-6/0.02/0.6/.../.. 31 NW RMY N/A 2/13 20/2/11/-17/0.00/0.0/.../.. 35 NW RMY 35 2/14 morning low temp: 1F since midnight, normal low is now 19 DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2015 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 2 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 16.5 INS. surpasses previous record: 5.5 ins. in 1916, 1934 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 14 HIGH 56F IN 1949 LOW -8F IN 1979 PRECIP 2.09 INCHES IN 2007 SNOWFALL 11.0 INCHES IN 1914 PEAK GUST 83 MPH SSW IN 2000 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 15 HIGH 60F IN 1954 LOW -18F IN 1943 PRECIP 1.28 INCHES IN 1950 SNOWFALL 11.2 INCHES IN 1940 PEAK GUST 94e MPH WNW IN 1946 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono If you do not wish to receive this Daily Discussion and Climate Summary from the Blue Hill Observatory, please send an email to bfitzgerald@bluehill.org.