Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory 1891-2020 Means and Extremes

Temperature, Precipitation, Snowfall, and Wind Measurements

Weather in New England is rarely “normal”, but the tables below show the average monthly weather conditions at the Blue Hill Observatory for the 130-year period from 1891-2020. Extremes are shown for the full period of record, 1885-Present, except peak wind gusts, which are for 1940-Present.

Temperature (oF)

Month

Average Maximum

Average Minimum

Mean

Record Highest (Year)

Record Lowest (Year)

January

33.8

18.5

25.9

68 (1950, 2020)

-16 (1957)

February

35.1

19.1

26.6

71 (2017)

 -21 (1934)

March

43.5

27.0

34.5

89 (1998)

-5 (1950)

April

55.0

36.6

44.9

94 (1976)

6 (1923)

May

66.4

46.5

55.5

96 (2017)

27 (1911)

June

74.7

55.6

64.3

99 (1919)

36 (1945)

July

80.2

61.7

70.0

100 (1977)

44 (1988)

August

78.2

60.5

68.3

101 (1949,1975)

39 (1965)

September

71.1

53.7

61.5

99 (1953)

28 (1914)

October

60.6

43.6

51.3

88 (1963)

21 (1922, 1928,1936)

November

48.9

33.8

40.7

81 (1950)

5 (1932)

December

37.7

23.2

30.1

74 (1998)

-19 (1933)

Year

57.1

40.0

47.8

101 (1949,1975)

 -21 (1934)

Precipitation (inches)

Month

Mean

Record Highest (Year)

Record Lowest   (Year)

24 Hour Maximum (Year)

January

4.24

11.61 (1979)

0.89 (1955)

3.10 (1889)

February

3.99

9.32 (1969)

0.71 (1987)

4.85 (1886)

March

4.59

18.81 (2010)

0.06 (1915)

6.62 (1968)

April

4.14

10.37 (1987)

0.92 (1892)

3.47 (2004)

May

3.67

10.10 (2006)

0.50 (1944)

5.02 (1984)

June

3.80

17.32 (1998)

0.14 (1999)

6.10 (1998)

July

3.62

11.67 (1938)

0.13 (1952)

4.67 (1979)

August

4.02

18.78 (1955)

0.53 (1981)

9.93 (1955)

September

3.92

12.37 (1999)

0.41 (2014)

5.86 (1961)

October

4.14

14.72 (2005)

0.22 (1924)

7.41 (1996)

November

4.34

10.31 (2018)

0.55 (1976)

5.06 (1955)

December

4.46

12.60 (1969)

0.92 (1955)

5.68 (1969)

Year

48.92

71.00 (1998)

26.96 (1965)

9.93 (1955)

Snowfall, Ice Pellets (inches)

Month

Mean

Record Highest (Year)

Record Lowest (Year)

24-Hour Maximum (Year)

January

16.3

56.3 (1948)

0.7 (1980)

28.3 (2015)

February

16.8

83.6 (2015)

0.4 (1937)

28.2 (1969)

March

12.0

52.0 (1956)

T (1921)

27.2 (1960)

April

4.1

24.2 (1996)

0

15.1 (1996)

May

0.1

7.8 (1977)

0

7.8 (1977)

June

0.0

T (1907)

0

T (1907)

July

0.0

0

0

0

August

0.0

0

0

0

September

0.0

0

0

0

October

0.4

8.5 (2011)

0

6.8 (1979)

November

3.3

23.0 (1898)

0

16.0 (1898)

December

11.5

45.2 (1945)

0

21.0 (1960)

Season

62.3

150.8 (2014-15)

12.6 (1936-37)

29.0 (1997)a

a The 24-hour maximum snowfall of 29.0 inches occurred on March 31 and April 1, 1997 without surpassing either monthly record.

Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Peak Gusts (mph)

Month

Mean Wind Speed

Mean Wind Direction

Peak Gust a

Peak Gust Direction (Year)

January

16.5

WNW

101b

SE (1978)

February

16.6

WNW

102b

S (1970)

March

16.4

WNW

102b

S (1942)

April

15.7

WNW

83

NW (1977)

May

14.0

W

83

NE (1967)

June

13.1

SW

86b

WNW (1946)

July

12.2

SW

110b

NW (1942)

August

12.0

WSW

125

SE (1954)

September

13.0

WSW

186a,c

S (1938)

October

14.5

W

81

S (1976)

November

15.6

W

96b

SSE (1951)

December

16.1

WNW

95

S (1966)

Year

14.6

W

186a

S (1938)

a Peak wind gusts are for the period 1940-Present, except for the calculated gust from the 1938 Hurricane.

b Peak wind gust estimated from available Blue Hill wind measurements.

c The second highest wind gust for September was 140 mph, SSE in 1960.