BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2016  (PRESIDENTS' DAY) ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME COLDEST VALENTINE'S DAY ON RECORD IN 131 YEARS, NEW DAILY RECORD MINIMUM SET, DAILY LOW MAXIMUM TIED  A seriously cold mass of Arctic air brought about the coldest Valentine's Day on record yesterday, with a maximum temperature of 10F, and a minimum of -14F. The daily temperature departure was 30 degrees colder than normal. This was the coldest temperature observed on Blue Hill since -16F on 15 January 1957 and the coldest in February since -16F on 16 February 1943. The minimum of -14F set a new daily record minimum temperature, surpassing the old record of -8F set back in 1979. Yesterday's maximum temperature of 10F tied the daily record low maximum temperature first set in 1979 as well. After a much warmer than normal start to the month, temperatures for February have nearly evened out for a normal temperature month. This morning temperatures dipped to a low of -2F for a time, and gradually raised through the morning. By the 1:00 PM EST observation altostratus had completely overcast the sky with hazy conditions. Visibility had fallen to 35 miles and temperatures had risen to a maximum of 20F so far. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered thin cirrus, few stratocumulus distant offshore E-ESE Temperature: 2F; Dew Point: -20F; Wind: estimated WSW at 6 kts, Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.57 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly Visibility: 70 miles, except 50 miles ESE-SW, thin fog ESE-SW 6-hr Max temp: 2F  6-hr Min temp: -2F 24-hr precip: 0.00 24-hr snowfall: 0.0 Snow depth: 8 ins. BHO SA 1155 250 SCT- 70 353/2/-20/E2506/057/ VSBY ESE-SW 50 MI FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR E-ESE THN FG ESE-SW WND LGT/ 8/501 4/008 53013 10002 21002 10 A.M. Weather: Broken cirrostratus invading, few altocumulus  distant SSE-WNW Temperature: 11F; Dew Point: -7F; Wind: estimated S at 6 kts Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.59 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly Visibility: 50 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 E250 BKN 50 360/11/-7/E1806/059/ FEW AC DSNT SSE-WNW LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS WND LGT/ 8/036 51007 1 P.M. Weather: Broken altostratus, overcast altostratus Temperature: 20F; Dew Point: 3F; Wind: estimated SE at 6 kts, Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.53 ins. Hg, steady, then falling Visibility: 35 miles, hazy 6-hr Max temp: 20F 6-hr Min temp: 0F  BHO SA 1755 E100 BKN 140 OVC 35 339/20/3/E1306/053/ HAZY WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/017 58021 10020 20000 SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2016     TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....10   NORMAL.....37 MIN....-14   NORMAL.....19  MEAN....-2   NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................-30 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+10 [+0.5 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............67   DEPARTURE.........+30 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............526   DEPARTURE.........-11 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3268   DEPARTURE........-800 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4015   DIFFERENCE.......-747 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................33 WNW AT  12:48 A.M.                                            ASOS........................40 WNW AT  12:48 A.M.                         DAVIS.......................37 NW  AT  12:48 A.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................29 WNW AT  12:49 A.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................28 WNW AT  12:49 A.M.       MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................26 NW  AT  12:49 A.M.       AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..............15.3 WNW                    ASOS.......................15.1                      DAVIS......................13.7 NNW [326 Deg.] 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..........3.11  DEPARTURE......+1.19                          ASOS..............3.15 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........6.88  DEPARTURE......+0.61                            ASOS..............7.09 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE.......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............21.3  DEPARTURE......+14.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............36.9  DEPARTURE.......-3.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/ AERO/RMY GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system 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   64/40/52/+26/0.00/0.0/.../..          36 WNW AERO 37 W   RMY 34 2/2   48/31/40/+14/0.00/0.0/.../..          23 NW  AERO 23 WNW RMY N/A 2/3   55/34/45/+19/0.80/0.0/000/00          55 SSE AERO 58 SSE RMY 53 2/4   55/39/47/+21/..../0.0/000/00          37 W   AERO 36 W   RMY 35 2/5   39/19/29/+3/..../12.5/000/00          37 NNW AERO 39 NNW RMY 35 2/6   35/17/26/0/0.00/0.0/.../..            25 SSW AERO 24 SSW RMY 23  2/7   43/26/35/+8/0.00/0.0/.../..           35 ENE AERO 35 ENE RMY N/A 2/8   36/16/26/-1/..../.../000/00           53 NE  AERO 55 NE  RMY 53 2/9   26/17/22/-5/..../.../000/00           21 N   AERO 22 N   RMY N/A 2/10  33/21/27/+0/0.01/0.0/.../..           23 W   AERO 23 W   RMY 21 2/11  26/7/17/-10/T/T/.../..                39 W   AERO 47 W   RMY 42 2/12  23/4/13/-14/0.00/0.0/.../..           31 WNW AERO 38 WNW RMY 21 2/13  21/-7/7/-21/0.00/0.0/.../..           41 W   AERO 46 WNW RMY 43  2/14  10/-14/-2/-30/0.00/0.0/.../..         33 WNW AERO 46 WNW RMY N/A   2/15   morning low temp. since midnight -2F; normal now 19F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2016 -NONE SO FAR- DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):  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 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 16 HIGH 62F IN 1954 LOW -16F IN 1943 PRECIP 1.91 INCHES IN 1958 SNOWFALL 18.6 INCHES IN 1958 PEAK GUST 78 MPH W IN 1967 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald