Tuesday, February 3, 2015

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

SNOW COMES TO AN END MONDAY EVENING, STORM TOTALS
16.5 INCHES…43.9 INCHES HAVE FALLEN AT BHO OVER
7 DAY SPAN AND 54.5 INCHES OVER THE PAST 10 DAYS…

Snow, which began early Tuesday morning, increased in
intensity over the morning and early afternoon hours,
falling at rates of one inch per hour or greater for
several hours. With wind gusting above 30 MPH for
most of day time, blowing snow and fog began to
further reduce visibility to 1/4 of a mile. Two peak
gusts of 44 MPH were recorded near mid day as heavy
snow fell.

13.7 inches of snow had fallen up until 4:00 PM EST
yesterday afternoon, with an additional 2.8 inches
fallen over the last few hours of the storm.

With 16.5 inches of snow falling from this latest storm,
Blue Hill Observatory has now seen 43.9 inches of snow
fall over a 7 day span. Yesterday’s snowfall also set
a new daily snowfall record, surpassing the old record
of 5.5 inches, set back in 1916, and tied in 1934.

The total snowfall over the past 10 days is 54.5 inches.
These amounts easily surpass the previous records for
seven and ten day periods of 38.7 inches from 22-28
February 1969 and 47.0 inches from 22 Feb – 3 Mar, 1969.

Clear skies and below average temperatures have prevailed
today, with plentiful sunshine. This morning’s low of 0F,
was well below the daily normal minimum of 17F. By the
1:00 PM EST observation, a maximum of 18F had been
reached so far.
PRELIMINARY STATS FOR JANUARY 2015

TEMPERATURE Deg. F
Av. Max: 30.8 [-3.0] Av. Min: 15.4 [-1.7] Mean: 23.5 [-2.0] Corrected Mean: 23.1
Max. for month: 51 on 4th
Min. for month: -5 on 8th

HEATING DEGREE DAY UNITS
Total: 1289 [+63] Total for season: 3349 [-181]

PRECIPITATION, inches
Total: 5.17 [+0.82] Total snowfall: 42.9 [+25.8]

Additional data to be added in coming days

Top 10 Snowiest Januarys

1) 56.3 in 1948
2) 48.2 in 2011
3) 48.0 in 1904
4) 47.6 in 1996
5) 46.0 in 1966
6) 44.8 in 2005
7) 44.5 in 1923
8) 42.9 in 2015
9) 38.3 in 1987
10) 35.6 in 1978

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrus, few stratocumulus distant offshore NE-SE
Temperature: 2F; Dew Point: -4F; Wind: WNW at 16G22 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.09 ins. Hg, rising steadily
Visibility: 60 miles
6-hr max temp: 9F
6-hr min temp: 0F
24-hr precip: 1.19 in.
24 hr snowfall: 12.8 in.
Snow depth: 24 inches
BHO SA 1155 180 SCT 60 189/2/-4/2916G22/009/ FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR NE-SE
NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 12.8 INS STORM TOTAL 16.5 INS/ 8/504 4/024 53055
ASOS 70131 MANUAL 70119 10009 20000

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrus, few stratocumulus distant offshore ESE
Temperature: 9F; Dew Point: -2F; Wind: WNW at 13G20 kts
Sea-level pressure:  30.15 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly
Visibility: 70 miles
BHO SA 1455 200 SCT 70 211/9/-2/2913G20/015/ FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR ESE/
8/505 53022

1 P.M.
Weather: Clear, few cirrus distant in all directions, few altocumulus
lenticularis distant NW
Temperature: 18F; Dew Point: -4F; Wind: W at 7 kts
Sea-level pressure:  30.18 ins. Hg, rising, then falling
Visibility: 70 miles
BHO SA 1755 CLR 70 219/18/-4/2607/018/ FEW ACSL DSNT NW FEW CI DSNT ALQDS/
8/042 50008 10018 20001
SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..29   NORMAL…..34
MIN……8   NORMAL…..17
MEAN….19   NORMAL…..26

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL………………………-7
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………..-15 [-7.7 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..46  DEPARTURE………..+7
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..93  DEPARTURE……….+15
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..3442  DEPARTURE………-167
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……3609  DIFFERENCE……..-124

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………44 NE     AT  1:18 P.M.*
ASOS…………………..47 NE     AT 12:58 P.M.
DAVIS………………….44 NE     AT 12:21 P.M. RMY 46
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..34 NE     AT 12:59 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..32 NE     AT 12:59 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….30 NE     AT 12:22 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………17.4 N
ASOS…………………17.1
DVIS…………………15.0 NNE [022 degrees] * last of several occurrences…
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….1.19  DEPARTURE…..+1.05
ASOS…………..1.31
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….1.53  DEPARTURE…..+1.26
ASOS…………..1.59
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………..6.70  DEPARTURE…..+2.21
ASOS…………..7.05

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M………12.8  DEPARTURE…..+12.3
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH……………16.5  DEPARTURE…..+15.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..70.4  DEPARTURE…..+36.3

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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

1/1  31/18/25/-2/0.00/0.0/544/99              29 SSW RMY 30
1/2  37/26/32/+5/0.00/0.0/314/57              35 WSW RMY 38
1/3  34/21/28/+2/0.67/2.5/017/03              25 SE  RMY 26
1/4  51/33/42/+16/0.48/0.0/000/00             30 SSW RMY N/A
1/5  46/13/30/+4/0.00/0.0/542/98              48 W   RMY 54
1/6  15/10/13/-13/0.02/0.4/000/00             29 W   RMY N/A
1/7  22/01/12/-14/0.01/0.3/383/69            43 WNW RMY 47
1/8  16/-5/6/-20/0.00/0.0/539/97              39 WNW RMY N/A
1/9  27/16/22/-4/0.08/0.9/201/36              35 WSW RMY 38
1/10 22/11/17/-8/0.00/0.0/541/97              26 WNW RMY 27
1/11 31/9/20/-5/45/0.00/0.0/123/22            26 SSW RMY N/A
1/12 36/31/34/+9/0.23/T/000/00                29 NNW RMY N/A
1/13 33/11/22/-3/0.00/0.0/524/93              30 NNW RMY 29
1/14 22/11/17/-8/T/T/000/00                   18 NNW RMY 16
1/15 27/20/24/-1/0.09/0.8/000/00              20 WSW RMY 22
1/16 35/12/24/-1/T/T/341/60                   46 WSW RMY 50
1/17 21/5/13/-12/0.00/0.0/558/98              30 WNW RMY N/A
1/18 50/19/35/+10/0.16/0.0/000/00             47 SE  RMY 52
1/19 44/28/36/+11/T/0.0/304/53                33 W   RMY 36
1/20 36/23/30/+5/0.00/0.0/495/86              28 W   RMY 28
1/21 30/17/24/-1/0.00.0.0/358/62              21 WNW RMY N/A
1/22 36/25/31/+6/T/T/…/..                   20 WNW RMY 20
1/23 36/18/27/+2/0.00/0.0/…/..              25 SSW RMY 26
1/24 32/27/30/+5/0.86/5.0/000/00    *         24 SSW RMY N/A
1/25 34/17/26/+1/0.00/0.0/…/..              31 W   RMY 33
1/26 26/9/18/-7/0.50/5.6/…/..               45 N   RMY N/A
1/27 17/10/14/-11/1.94/25.2/000/00            51 N   RMY 52
1/28 22/8/15/-10/T/T/…/..                   30 NW  RMY N/A
1/29 33/11/22/-3/0.00/0.0/…/..              18 NW  RMY N/A
1/30 32/15/24/-2/0.13/2.2/000/00              45 NW  RMY 49
1/31 21/7/15/-11/0.00/0.0/…/../             52 NW  RMY 57

* Daily precipitation corrected from 0.84 to 0.86

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 morning low temp: 0F since midnight, normal low is now 17

DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2015

-NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 27 JANUARY 2015
SNOWFALL 25.2 INS. IN 2015 [NEW RECORD FOR THE MONTH] DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2015

-NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 2 FEBRUARY 2015
SNOWFALL 16.5 INS. IN 2014
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 3
HIGH 58F IN 1991
LOW -7F IN 1955
PRECIP 2.14 INS. IN 1970
SNOWFALL 7.0 INS. IN 1913
PEAK GUST 102 MPH S IN 1970 [RECORD FOR MONTH]

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 4
HIGH 63F IN 1991
LOW -4F IN 1886, 1908
PRECIP 1.80 INS. IN 1926
SNOWFALL 15.0 INS. IN 1961
PEAK GUST 89 MPH SSE IN 1972

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald