Friday, March 21, 2014

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

WINDS REMAIN GUSTY FROM THE WEST SUPPRESSING TEMPERATURES
IN THE 30s AND 40s UNDER MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES.

Following a maximum of 51F yesterday, temperatures have struggled
to reach 40 degrees today under intermittent sunshine thanks to
a layer of stratocumulus. Winds have remained gusty, with several
gusts nearing 40 MPH.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Few cumulus in all directions,
broken altocumulus/altocumulus lenticularis
Temperature: 35F; Dew Point: 21F; Wind: W at 16G23 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 29.82 ins. Hg, increasing, then more quickly
Visibility: 80 miles, 35 miles SW-NNW
6-hr max temp: 35F
6-hr min temp: 21F
24-hr precip: none
Snow depth: trace
BHO SA 1155 E140 BKN 80 097/35/21/2716G23/982/
FEW CU ALQDS ACSL ALQDS VSBY SW-NNW 35 MI/ 8/140 53007 10036 20034

10 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus
Temperature: 40F Dew Point: 20F; Wind: W at 21G28 kts,
Peak Wind: 29 kts W @ 8:57 AM EST
Sea-level pressure: 29.84 ins. Hg, increasing, then steady
Visibility: 70 miles
BHO SA 1455 E36 BKN 70 106/40/20/2821G28/984/ PK WND 2829/1357/ 8/500 51009

1 P.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus
Temperature: 41F; Dew Point: 19F; Wind: WNW at 17G26 kts,
Peak Wind: 31 kts WNW at 12:40 AM EST
Sea-level pressure: 29.85 ins. Hg, increasing, then decreasing,
but still higher than 3 hours ago
Visibility: 80 miles, 50 miles NW-NNW
6-hr max temp: 41F
6-hr min temp: 35F
BHO SA 1755 E44 BKN 80 109/41/19/2917G26/985/ VSBY NW-NNW 50 PK WND 2931/40/
8/500 50003 10041 20035

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..51    NORMAL…..45
MIN…..35    NORMAL…..28
MEAN….43    NORMAL…..37

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………….+6
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………-64 [-3.4 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..22  DEPARTURE……….-6
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….700  DEPARTURE………+74
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..5291  DEPARTURE………+97
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……4738  DIFFERENCE…….+553

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………36 W    AT   4:42 P.M.
AERO…………………..37 W    AT   4:39 P.M. *
ASOS…………………..38 W    AT   4:10 P.M.
DAVIS………………….35 W    AT  12:05 P.M. RMY 39
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..28 W    AT   4:11 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..28 W    AT   4:14 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….24 W    AT   4:14 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………14.3 W
ASOS…………………14.2
DAVIS………………..12.1 W [273 deg.] * the 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……….1.00  DEPARTURE………….-2.52
ASOS…………..1.01
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….11.09  DEPARTURE………….-0.85
ASOS………….11.55

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……..  0.0  DEPARTURE…………..-0.4
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….2.5  DEPARTURE…………..-6.9
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..84.3  DEPARTURE………….+27.9

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 2014 CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATA REPORTED:
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST
AERO: Aerovane wind recording system 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  34/12/23/-8/0.00/0.0/458/68          28 SSW AERO 29 MPH SSW RMY 30
3/2  37/28/33/2/T/T/014/02                22 SW  AERO 22 MPH SW  RMY 29
3/3  28/11/20/-12/0.00/0.0/000/00         29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY N/A
3/4  29/6/18/-14/0.00/0.0/444/65          17 SW  AERO 16 MPH SW  RMY 17
3/5  27/16/22/-10/0.02/0.3/000/00         21 NE  AERO 20 MPH N   RMY 23
3/6  26/7/17/-15/0.00/0.0/689/100         23 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY N/A
3/7  35/16/26/-7/0.00/0.0/449/65          18 SE  AERO 17 MPH SE  RMY 18
3/8  52/27/40/+7/0.00/0.0/673/97          26 NW  AERO 29 MPH NNW RMY 27
3/9  40/25/33/0/0.00/0.0/669/96           28 NW  AERO 29 MPH NW  RMY 29
3/10 42/26/34/+1/0.03/0.8/196/28          21 S   AERO 22 MPH S   RMY 27
3/11 56/34/45/+11/0.00/0.0/450/64         33 W   AERO 33 MPH W   RMY 34
3/12 53/34/44/+10/0.50/T/120/17           29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY 30
3/13 33/12/23/-11/0.14/1.4/007/01         43 NW  AERO 45 MPH NW  RMY 45
3/14 37/10/24/-11/0.00/0.0/498/70         39 SSW AERO 41 MPH SSW RMY 42
3/15 54/35/45/+10/0.01/0.0/450/63         50 WNW AERO 58 MPH WNW RMY 54
3/16 34/21/28/-7/0.00/0.0/…/..          36 W   AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 37
3/17 30/13/22/-14/0.00/0.0/…/..         25 N   AERO 26 MPH N   RMY 19
3/18 35/16/26/-10/0.00/0.0/…/..         18 ENE AERO 16 MPH ENE RMY 18
3/19 44/23/34/-2/…./…/…/..          24 E   AERO 23 MPH E   RMY 26
3/20 51/35/43/+6/…./…/…/..          36 W   AERO 37 MPH W   RMY 39

3/21 morning low temp: 34F; the normal low is now 28F

DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2014
None so far.

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

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

RECORDS FOR MARCH 22
HIGH 81 IN 2012
LOW 3 IN 1885
PRE 3.48 INS. IN 2001
SNOW 8.7 INS. 1967
WIND 84e MPH E IN 1977

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald