Friday, March 20, 2015

BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

VERNAL EQUINOX (SPRING BEGINS) 6:45 P.M. EDT TODAY

DENSE HIGH CLOUDS, COLD AND CONTINUED VERY DRY
AN AREA OF SNOW FALLING TO OUR SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST THIS
MORNING BUT…WILL SNOW ACCUMULATE TODAY? WILL WE REACH
THE RECORD FOR A SEASON TODAY?

Arctic air remains in place today as high clouds spread across
the sky early this morning allowing only some very dim sunshine.
These clouds were altostratus and dense cirrostratus way up around
18,000 to 20,000 feet. Our low temperature of 19F was not as cold and
with very little wind as compared to yesterday’s 15-degree reading
along with gusty winds, which continued most of the day yesterday.
For a second day the temperature failed to reached the freezing mark
with a high of 31 degrees, just slightly higher than the 30 on Wednesday.
The dew point again this morning, like yesterday was right around
zero and rising only slightly.

An area of snow to our south today may brush us here late today or
this evening with only a half inch needed to edge out the previous
record of 144.4 inches set in the very snowy winter of 1995-96.

Seasonal snowfall remains at 144.0 inches, just 0.4 inches below the
snowiest season on record set in 1995-1996.  For more information about
this historic winter, visit our web site at bluehill.org.

The average snow depth is at 16 inches this morning making this the
third consecutive morning with 16 inches on the ground (as an average).
Our streak of 42 consecutive days with 20 inches or more of snow on the
ground has ended, firmly in second place all time. The record is 53 days
set back in 1948.

BHO Greatest Seasonal Snowfall, inches (1885-2015):

1) 144.4 in 1995-1996
2) 144.0 in 2014-2015 (through 1 PM March 20th)
3) 136.0 in 1947-1948
4) 119.4 in 2004-2005
5) 113.1 in 2002-2003
6) 111.5 in 1915-1916
7) 109.6 in 1966-1967
8) 106.8 in 1955-1956
9) 103.4 in 1903-1904
10) 102.5 in 1922-1923

BHO Longest Duration of 20″+ Snow Depth, (1885-2015):

1) 53 days, 27 Dec, 1947 – 17 Feb, 1948
2) 42 days, 3 Feb – 16 Mar, 2015
3) 34 days, 5 Feb – 9 Mar, 1920
34 days, 7 Feb – 12 Mar, 1978
5) 23 days, 25 Feb – 19 Mar, 1969
6) 21 days, 27 Jan – 16 Feb, 2011
7) 11 days, 15-25 Mar, 1916
11 days, 5-15 Jan, 1961

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather:  Broken altostratus, overcast dense cirrostratus,
sun visible
Temperature: 23F; Dew Point: 1F; Wind: NNE at 3 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 30.36 ins. Hg, rising then falling slightly
Visibility: 60 miles, except 70 miles NW
6-hr Max temp: 23F
6-hr Min temp: 19F
24-hr precip: None
24-hr snowfall: None
Snow depth: 16 inches
BHO SA 1155 E180 BKN 200 OVC 60 282/23/1/0203/036/ HIER CLDS VSB
ALG/NR HRZN DSNT N-NE VSBY NW 70 LGT DSNT HZ WND LGT/
8/017 4/016 50004 10023 20019

10 A.M.
Weather: Overcast dense cirrostratus, sun visible
Temperature: 28F; Dew Point: 10F; Wind: S at 5 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 30.37 ins. Hg, rising then falling slightly
Visibility: 40 miles, WNW 50 miles, distant haze increasing
BHO SA 1455 E200 OVC 40 286/28/10/1805/037/ OVC DNS CS
VSBY WNW 50 LGT DSNT HZ INCR/ 8/007 50004

1 P.M.
Weather: Overcast altostratus opaqus, precipitato, virga all
quadrants
Temperature: 31F; Dew Point: 11F; Wind: SSE at 5 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-Level Pressure: 30.32 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly
Visibility: 55 miles, except 70 miles NW, 35 miles NE-E, distant haze
in all directions
6-hr Max temp: 32F
6-hr Min temp: 23F
BHO SA 1755 E90 OVC 55 269/31/11/1605/032/ VIRGA ALQDS
SUN DMLY VSB VSBY NW 70 NE-E 35 DSNT HZ WND LGT/
8/02/ 56017 10032 20023

SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..31   NORMAL…..45
MIN…..15   NORMAL…..27
MEAN….23   NORMAL…..36

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL………………………-13
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………………-52 [-2.9 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..42  DEPARTURE……….+13
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….650  DEPARTURE……….+529
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..5358  DEPARTURE……….+192
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……5269  DIFFERENCE………+89

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………37  NW  AT   4:49 P.M. *
ASOS…………………..38  WNW AT  10:09 A.M.
DAVIS………………….37  NW  AT  10:09 A.M. RMY 39
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..27  WNW AT   2:34 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..28  WNW AT   2:34 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….27  NW  AT   1:36 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………….16.9 NW
ASOS………………….16.3
DAVIS…………………14.8 NW [310 degrees] * Last of several occurrences…

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.00   DEPARTURE…..-0.19
ASOS…………..0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….1.79   DEPARTURE…..-1.37
ASOS…………..N/A
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….13.13   DEPARTURE…..+1.68
ASOS…………..N/A ***
*** ASOS monthly and annual totals not available due to erroneous readings

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……….0.0  DEPARTURE……-0.4
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….6.5  DEPARTURE……-2.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON………….144.0  DEPARTURE…..+88.0

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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

3/1  29/14/22/-9/…./…/000/00              25 SSW RMY 25
3/2  35/22/29/-2/…./…/480/71              44 WNW RMY 48
3/3  32/13/23/-9/…./2.8/340/50              33 S   RMY N/A
3/4  41/32/37/+5/…./…/000/00              33 SW  RMY 36
3/5  36/16/26/-6/0.02/0.2/000/00              28 NW  RMY 29
3/6  26/5/16/-16/0.00/0.0/681/99              28 NW  RMY 25
3/7  38/13/26/-7/0.00/0.0/567/82              30 WSW RMY 30
3/8  41/25/33/0/T/T/208/30                    38 WNW RMY 41
3/9  45/28/37/+4/0.00/0.0/565/81              40 W   RMY 39
3/10 52/32/42/+9/…./0.0/252/36              28 S   RMY 27
3/11 55/38/47/+13/…./0.0/604/86             37 WNW RMY N/A
3/12 38/23/31/-3/0.00/0.0/677/96              44 N   RMY 48
3/13 40/18/29/-5/0.00/0.0/581/82              23 SSW RMY 26
3/14 41/29/35/0/0.84/0.0/000/00               23 SSW RMY 23
3/15 41/24/33/-2/0.03/0.6/…/..              39 NW  RMY 39
3/16 44/23/34/-1/0.00/0.0/…/..              28 NW  RMY N/A
3/17 48/25/37/+1/0.17/T/..,/..                53 NW  RMY 63
3/18 30/19/25/-11/0.00/0.0/…/..             51 NW  RMY 56
3/19 31/15/23/-13/0.00/0.0/…/..             37 NW  RMY 39

3/20 morning low temp: 19F since midnight; normal low is now 28F

DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2015

-NONE SO FAR.

DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):

RECORDS FOR MARCH 20
HIGH 79 IN 1945
LOW 4 IN 1885
PRECIP 1.39 INS. IN 1957
SNOWFALL 11.4 INS. IN 1957
PEAK GUST 63 MPH SE IN 1975

RECORDS FOR MARCH 21
HIGH 81 IN 1921
LOW 2 IN 1885
PRECIP 2.67 INS. IN 1974
SNOWFALL 10.6 INS. IN 1958
PEAK GUST 72 MPH NE IN 1958

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling