Friday, February 23, 2024

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

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2024
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST)
SUNRISE: 0630E
SUNSET:  1726E

FOGGY CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE DAY IMPACTING VISIBILITY ON BLUE
HILL TODAY….

Early morning rain moved through the area and tapered off by mid
morning. We measured 0.07 inches of rain in the gauge by 1pm, still
keeping us below normal in liquid precipitation for the month.
However, after a very wet January we are still above normal for the
season.

We had a temperature of 36F this morning at 7am and the temperature
has only increased to 40F by our 1pm observation. Dense fog and an
obscured sky has prevented us from further warming, and so the air has
remained saturated. It’s not the sharp cold that we typically feel this
time of year, but it’s still overall a bit chilly.

The wind was very active overnight, but by mid morning had dropped
significantly, giving us calm readings for our 10am and 1pm observations.
The average speed so far for today is around 9 mph, with most of the
wind coming from the early morning hours. The current peak gust for the
day is around 26mph, which occurred overnight, just before 1am.

Thick fog in the area impacted the visibility quite significantly. We
had a vertical visibility of about 200 ft and 1/2 mile around the perimeter
of the observatory during all observations.

The maximum temperature so far today is 40F degrees, which is 1 degree
above the normal high of 39F. The minimum temperature since midnight is
33F degrees, which is 12 degrees above the normal low of 21F.

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Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Sky obscured, vertical visibility 200 ft
Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 36F; Relative Humidity: 100%
Wind: S @ 8 kts
Sea-level pressure: 1001.8 mb; 29.58 in. Hg: falling unsteadily
Visibility: 1/2 mile, fog
6-hr Max temp: 36F
6-hr Min temp: 33F
24-hr Precip: 0.06 ins
24-hr Snowfall: 0.0 ins
Snow Depth: Trace
BHO SA 1155 X W2 1/2F 018/36/36/1608/958/ 8//// 4/000 57027 70006
10036 20033

10 A.M.
Weather: Sky obscured, vertical visibility 200 ft
Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 39F; Relative Humidity: 100%
Wind: Wind Calm
Sea-level pressure: 1000.9 mb; 29.56 in. Hg: falling rapidly
Visibility: 1/2 mile, fog
3-hr Precip:  0.01 ins
3-hr Snowfall: 0.0 ins
BHO SA 1455 X W2 1/2F 009/39/39/0000/956/ WND CALM 8//// 58009

1 P.M.
Weather: Sky obscured, vertical visibility 200 ft
Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 40F; Relative Humidity: 100%
Wind: Wind Calm
Sea-level pressure: 999.1 mb; 29.50 in. Hg: falling rapidly
Visibility: 1/2 mile, fog
6-hr Max temp: 40F
6-hr Min temp: 36F
6-hr Precip:  0.01 ins
6-hr Snowfall: 0.0 ins
Snow Depth: Trace
BHO SA 1755 X W2 1/2F 991/40/40/0000/950/ WND CALM 8////
4/000 58018 6001/ 10036 20040

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SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…….42   NORMAL…..38
MIN…….24   NORMAL…..21
MEAN……33   NORMAL…..30

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR (1991-2020) NORMAL…………+3
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………….+107 [+4.7 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON: JUL 2023 THRU JUN 2024)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY……………32  DEPARTURE……..-3
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..715  DEPARTURE……-107
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON…………3681  DEPARTURE……-544
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE…….3482  DEPARTURE……+199

PEAK WIND GUST (MPH):
Note: Instruments designated #1 = Main Tower, #2 = South Tower,
F420C, Contacting, Merlin, and Richards are all Main Tower.
E=Estimated

F420C (Official)……….E26 SSW  @  07:44 P.M.
VECTOR #1 (1-Sec)……….26 SSW  @  07:44 P.M.
VECTOR #2 (1-Sec)……….24 SSW  @  10:06 P.M.
DAVIS #1……………….26 S    @  07:44 P.M.
DAVIS #2 ………………25 S    @  07:44 P.M.
RMY #1 (Instantaneous)…..25 SSW  @  07:44 P.M.
RMY #2 (Instantaneous)…..25 SSW  @  10:15 P.M.
MERLIN…………………26 SSW
RICHARDS (C5C) (Inst)……25      @  07:44 P.M.

FASTEST MILE:
CONTACTING ANEMOMETER/OFFICIAL………………18 SSW  @  09:16 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE VECTOR #1 AVERAGE…………..17      @  11:36 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE VECTOR #2 AVERAGE…………..18      @  09:16 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #1 AVERAGE……………17 S    @  07:53 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #2 AVERAGE……………18 S    @  06:59 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RMY #1 AVERAGE……………..17 SSW  @  10:05 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RMY #2 AVERAGE……………..18 SSW  @  09:16 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RICHARDS (C5C) AVERAGE………17      @  07:53 P.M.

AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION:
CONTACTING/OFFICIAL…….8.0 SSW [191 total miles] VECTOR #1……………..8.6
VECTOR #2……………..8.6
DAVIS #1………………8.1 SSW
DAVIS #2………………8.0 SSW
RMY #1………………..8.5 SSW
RMY #2………………..8.7 SSW
RICHARDS (C5C)…………8.6

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……..0.06 DEPARTURE…..-0.10
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH…………..0.79 DEPARTURE…..-2.27
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR (2024)…….10.03 DEPARTURE…..+2.47

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M…………..0.0 DEPARTURE……-0.6
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH………………..4.7 DEPARTURE……-9.8
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON (2023-2024)……25.6 DEPARTURE…..-22.6

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PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN)/SUN(%)/PEAK GUST/VEC1/RMY GUST
PEAK GUST: F420C (Official)
VEC1: Vector #1 1-second gust
RMY:  R.M. Young #1 wind gust recording system (Instantaneous)
TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day)
….: Data not yet available, records not finalized
M:    Missing data

2/1   40/30/35/+9/0.00/0.0/012/02         25 SW  VEC1 24 SW  RMY 26
2/2   39/31/35/+9/0.03/T/000/00           23 N   VEC1 24 N   RMY 25
2/3   35/26/31/+5/0.00/0.0/338/56         26 N   VEC1 26 NNW RMY 28
2/4   39/20/30/+4/0.00/0.0/607/100        28 NNW VEC1 28 NNW RMY 27
2/5   39/22/31/+4/0.00/0.0/597/98         29 N   VEC1 29 N   RMY 30
2/6   35/26/31/+4/0.00/0.0/251/41         26 N   VEC1 26 N   RMY 26
2/7   39/26/33/+6/0.00/0.0/436/71         21 NE  VEC1 21 NE  RMY 24
2/8   44/29/37/+10/0.00/0.0/457/74        16 S   VEC1 16 S   RMY 16
2/9   47/30/39/+12/0.00/0.0/229/37        31 SSW VEC1 31 SSW RMY 31
2/10  58/35/47/+20/0.02/0.0/385/62        26 NW  VEC1 26 NW  RMY 30
2/11  45/34/40/+13/0.00/0.0/119/19        30 NW  VEC1 30 NW  RMY 31
2/12  47/29/38/+10/0.00/0.0/470/75        21 N   VEC1 20 N   RMY 20
2/13  35/25/30/+2/0.65/4.3/000/00         40 NNE VEC1 41 NNE RMY M
2/14  29/21/25/-3/0.00/0.0/562/89         53 NW  VEC1 53 NW  RMY 54
2/15  38/18/28/0/0.03/0.4/527/83          37 SW  VEC1 36 SW  RMY 37
2/16  37/26/32/+4/T/T/599/94              50 WNW VEC1 47 WNW RMY 51
2/17  33/21/27/-2/T/T/128/20              36 WNW VEC1 38 WNW RMY 38
2/18  35/17/26/-3/0.00/0.0/418/65         39 SW  VEC1 40 SW  RMY 41
2/19  36/21/29/0/0.00/0.0/639/99          29 WNW VEC1 29 WNW RMY 28
2/20  36/16/26/-3/0.00/0.0/648/100        22 N   VEC1 22 N   RMY 21
2/21  39/24/32/+3/0.00/0.0/553/85         23 ESE VEC1 23 ESE RMY 22
2/22  42/24/33/+3/…/0.0/…/..          26 SSW VEC1 26 SSW RMY 25

2/23 The low since midnight is 33F, the daily normal low is 21F

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FEBRUARY DAILY RECORDS TO DATE

NONE…

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

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 23
HIGH 67F IN 2017, 2022
LOW -8F IN 1907
PRECIP 1.48 INCHES IN 1967
SNOWFALL 10.6 INCHES IN 1967
PEAK GUST 73 MPH WNW IN 1974

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 24
HIGH 71F IN 2017 [RECORD HIGH FOR MONTH] LOW -11F IN 1894
PRECIP 3.10 INCHES IN 1969
SNOWFALL 27.4 INCHES IN 1969 [HIGHEST CALENDAR DAY AMOUNT ON RECORD] PEAK GUST 63 MPH NE IN 1998

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Amanda Joly