Saturday, October 5, 2013

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2013
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

RAIN SHOWERS FRIDAY AND EARLY THIS MORNING
MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A FEW SUNNY BREAKS TODAY…

Rain showers on Friday brought 0.26 inch of precipitation, and a light
shower early this more left an additional 0.01 inch.  This was the
first precipitation of the month. The sky has been mostly cloudy all
day with low and middle clouds lingering throughout the day.  There
have been only a few brief periods of sunshine by mid-afternoon.  The
last two days have also been remarkable for very light wind speeds.
A total of only 101 miles of wind were recorded on Friday, which is
an (uncorrected) daily average of 4.2 mph.  The corrected mean wind
speed for Friday was 5.2 mph.  The peak gust on Friday of 18 mph NW
occurred very early in the day.  Later in the day, there were nine
straight hours with average speeds of only 1 or 2 mph.  The peak
wind gust so far today has been only 9 mph, recorded several times.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus (2 layers), broken altocumulus, few
lower stratocumulus all quadrants, patchy ground fog all quadrants,
rain shower distant SE, hazy
Temperature: 57F; Dew Point: 55F; Wind: NE at 5 kts.
Sea-level pressure: 30.11 ins. Hg, rising
Visibility: 12 miles, hazy
6-hour min. temp: 56F
6-hour rainfall: 0.01 inch
24-hour rainfall: 0.27 inch
BHO SA 1155 E35 BKN 60 BKN 75 BKN 12 198/57/55/0505/011/ FEW LWR SC ALQDS
PTCHY GF ALQDS RW DSNT SE HAZY WND LGT/ 8/57/ 51007 6001/ 70027 10058 20056

10 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus, overcast stratocumulus, few lower
stratocumulus, breaks in overcast distant W-WNW, hazy
Temperature: 62F; Dew Point: 57F; Wind: Estimated at ESE at 3 kts,
Wind: Light and variable
Sea-level pressure: 30.13 ins. Hg, rising
Visibility: 25 miles, ESE-E 35 miles, hazy
BHO SA 1455 E35 BKN 60 OVC 25 204/62/57/E1103/013/ FEW LWR SC ALQDS BINOVC
DSNT W-WNW VSBY ESE-SE 35 HAZY WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/5// 50006

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken stratocumulus (2 layers), few
cumulus distant E-SE, few lower stratocumulus all quadrants, hazy
Temperature: 65F; Dew Point: 56F; Wind: E at 5 kts,
Wind: Light and variable
Sea-level pressure: 30.10 ins. Hg, falling
Visibility: 30 miles, hazy
6-hr max temp: 66F
6-hr min temp: 57F
BHO SA 1755 30 SCT E45 BKN 60 BKN 30 193/65/56/0905/010/ FEW CU DSNT E-SE
FEW LWR SC ALQDS WND LGT AND VRB HAZY/ 8/57/ 58011 10066 20057

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..67    NORMAL…..65
MIN…..56    NORMAL…..47
MEAN….62    NORMAL…..56

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL………………….+6
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH…………………+33  [+8.1 DEGREES/DAY]

COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..0   DEPARTURE……….0
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..4   DEPARTURE………+2
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..700   DEPARTURE…….+101
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……765   DIFFERENCE…….-65

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..3   DEPARTURE………-6
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..5   DEPARTURE……..-31
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..151   DEPARTURE……..-27
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……121   DIFFERENCE…….+30

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………18  NW AT 12:20 A.M. *
AERO…………………..20  NW AT 12:13 A.M. *
ASOS…………………..20 WNW AT 12:20 A.M.
DAVIS………………….19   W AT 12:04 A.M. RMY N/A
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..14  NW AT 12:06 A.M. *
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..15 WNW AT 12:06 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….14 WNW AT 12:06 A.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………….5.2  NW
ASOS………………….3.5
DAVIS…………………4.3  NW [326 degrees] * last of several occurrences.

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.27   DEPARTURE………….+0.12
ASOS…………..0.27
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….0.27   DEPARTURE………….-0.33
ASOS…………..0.27
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….41.92   DEPARTURE………….+2.51
ASOS…………..N/A*
*ASOS malfunctioned during storm on 2/8-9, leading to erroneous totals

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 2013 CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATA REPORTED:
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST
AERO: Aerovane wind recording system gust
RMY:  RMY = R.M. Young wind gust recording system added 8/9/2011
TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day)
….: Data not yet available, records not finalized

10/1 75/50/63/+6/0.00/676/96         16 WNW AERO 16 MPH WNW RMY 18
10/2 78/56/67/+10/0.00/666/95        29 W   AERO 30 MPH W   RMY 29
10/3 77/56/67/+11/0.00/…/..        20 WNW AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY N/A
10/4 67/56/62/+6/0.26/…/..         18 NW  AERO 20 MPH NW  RMY N/A

10/5 the morning low temp: 56F; the normal low is now 47F

DAILY RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 2013
None so far.

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

RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 5
HIGH 86F IN 2007
LOW 29F IN 1965
PRECIP 3.17 INCHES IN 1962
PEAK GUST 64e MPH S IN 1979

RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 6
HIGH 83F IN 1990, 2007
LOW 26F IN 1965
PRECIP 3.78 INCHES IN 1962
PEAK GUST 60e MPH S IN 1942

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono