Friday, October 11, 2013

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2013
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

BEAUTIFUL FALL DAY AFTER A LITTLE MORNING FOG

A moist N-NE aided the development of fog this morning along the windward,
or N-NE side of the Blue Hills. The southern, or leeward side, was
relatively fog free. Shortly after sunrise, the fog dissipated, and during
the 9 o’clock (EDT) hour the sun made an appearance. Since then, we’ve
enjoyed a fair amount of sunshine with some intermittent stratocumulus,
altocumulus, and cirrus occasionally filtering the sun.

Temperatures are running a few degrees warmer than yesterday, and have
reached into the upper 60s this afternoon. Today’s temperatures are close
to 5 degrees above the 30-year normals for the date.

Winds continue out of the NE, as they did much of yesterday, too. They have
been on the relatively light side, averaging 8-12 mph since the early
afternoon of Wednesday. The wind has not gusted past 20 mph during this
same time frame.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered stratus, broken stratocumulus, broken altocumulus,
broken cirrus, stratus fractus occasionally drifting over summit, stratus
fractus below summit NNW-E, thin fog/haze all quadrants, fog dissipating,
low stratus layer NE-SE-SW, altocumulus distant WNW-NNE, thin smoke layer
along horizon NW-ENE and S-SW, rain shower/virga distant WNW
Temperature: 51F; Dew Point: 51F; Wind: N at 10 kts.
Sea-level pressure: 30.14 ins. Hg, increasing then increasing more slowly
Visibility: 55 miles, thin fog/haze all quadrants
6-hr min temp: 50F
BHO SA 1155 3 SCT E25 BKN 90 BKN 250 BKN 55 208/51/51/0110/014/ STFRA
OCNLY DRFTNG OVR SMT STFRA BLO SMT NNW-E THN FG/HZ ALQDS FG DSSPTNG LOW
STRA LYR NE-SE-SW AC DSNT WNW-NNE THN K LYR ALG HRZN NW-ENE AND S-SW
SHRA/VIRGA DSNT WNW/ 8/841 51003 10053 20050

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus (2 levels), broken
thin cirrus, few lower cumulus distant ENE-SSW, stratocumulus mostly ESE-WSW,
few stratocumulus WNW and NNW-E, altocumulus WNW-N-ENE and small patch
overhead, few altocumulus castellanus NNW-N, distant haze
Temperature: 62F; Dew Point: 52F; Wind: NE at 8 kts,
Wind: Direction variable N-E
Wind: Direction gradually veering over the past hour (clockwise)
Sea-level pressure: 30.16 ins. Hg, increasing then decreasing
Visibility: 50 miles, distant haze
BHO SA 1455 25 SCT 100 SCT 120 SCT 250 –BKN 50 212/62/52/0508/016/ FEW LWR
CU DSNT ENE-SSW SC MSTLY ESE-WSW FEW SC WNW AND NNW-E AC WNW-N-ENE AND SML
PTCH OVHD FEW ACC NNW-N DSNT HZ WND 01V08 WND GRDLY VEERING PST HR/
8/881 50004

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus/cumulus, scattered altocumulus (2 levels),
scattered cirrostratus, broken thin cirrus, stratocumulus/cumulus all
quadrants except NNW-ENE and overhead, altocumulus lenticularis W-N-ENE,
cirrostratus distant E-S-WSW invading the sky, distant haze
Temperature: 65F; Dew Point: 53F; Wind: ENE at 7 kts,
Wind: Direction variable N-E
Sea-level pressure: 30.14 ins. Hg, increasing, then decreasing
Visibility: 65 miles, distant haze
6-hr max temp: 67F
BHO SA 1755 25 SCT 80 SCT 140 SCT 200 SCT 250 –BKN 65 205/65/53/0607/014/
SC/CU ALQDS XCPT NNW-ENE AND OVHD ACSL W-N-ENE CS DSNT E-S-WSW INVADING
DSNT HZ WND 01V09/ 8/545 58007 10067 20051

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..61 NORMAL…..62
MIN…..46 NORMAL…..45
MEAN….54 NORMAL…..54

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………..0
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH…………………+55 [+5.3 DEGREES/DAY]

COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..0 DEPARTURE……….0
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..5 DEPARTURE………+1
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..701 DEPARTURE…….+100
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……766 DIFFERENCE…….-65

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY………….11 DEPARTURE………-1
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….46 DEPARTURE……..-54
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..192 DEPARTURE……..-51
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……177 DIFFERENCE…….+15

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………18 NE AT 10:51 A.M.
AERO…………………..17 NE AT 11:41 A.M.
ASOS…………………..18 NE AT 11:41 A.M.
DAVIS………………….17 NE AT 10:52 A.M. RMY 18
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..12 NE AT 11:39 A.M. *
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..13 ENE AT 5:26 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….12 NE AT 10:52 A.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………….8.8 NE
ASOS………………….8.6
DAVIS…………………7.8 NE [048 degrees] * last of several occurrences

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.00 DEPARTURE………….-0.15
ASOS…………..0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….0.90 DEPARTURE………….-0.58
ASOS…………..0.89
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….42.82 DEPARTURE………….+2.26
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/+11/0.00/628/90 20 WNW AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY N/A
10/4 67/56/62/+6/0.26/028/04 18 NW AERO 20 MPH NW RMY N/A
10/5 67/56/62/+6/0.01/125/18 14 ENE AERO 12 MPH ENE RMY N/A
10/6 58/53/56/+1/0.56/000/00 20 NE AERO 20 MPH NE RMY N/A
10/7 75/57/66/+11/0.07/213/31 48 S AERO 55 MPH S RMY 55
10/8 65/50/58/+4/0.00/581/85 25 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY 28
10/9 59/49/54/0/0.00/545/80 25 ENE AERO 24 MPH ENE RMY 25
10/10 61/46/54/0/0.00/…/.. 18 NE AERO 17 MPH NE RMY 18

10/11 the morning low temp: 50F; the normal low is now 45F

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 11
HIGH 80F IN 1919,1949
LOW 28F IN 1993
PRECIP 0.96 INCHES IN 1903
SNOWFALL (NONE)
PEAK GUST 66e MPH WNW IN 1941

RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 12
HIGH 87F IN 1954
LOW 31F IN 1906
PRECIP 1.53 INCHES IN 1948
SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1941
PEAK GUST 55 MPH NW IN 1963

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser