Saturday, February 20, 2016

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2016
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

CLOUDS AND SHOWERS GIVE WAY TO WARMTH AND SUN

The precipitation overnight, which left a trace of snow
on Friday evening and a hundredth of an inch of rain
early today, ended very early this morning and has
left us with a clearing sky and improving visibility.

Temps at midnight started an above normal temperature of
31F and have climbed throughout the day as clouds gave way
to blue skies. By today’s 1:00 PM EST observation, skies
had mostly cleared with only scattered altostratus and
altocumulus along with scattered thin cirrus remaining.
Temperatures had climbed into the mid 50’s as conditions
turned very dry.  Gusty winds which began late last night,
have continued throughout the day with winds gusting as
high as 40 mph and still gusting into the mid 20s.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Broken Stratus and stratocumulus, thin overcast
nimbostratus, few cumulus fractus WSW-NW, Few Stratocumulus
distant offshore ESE-SSE
Temperature: 41F; Dew Point: 37F; Wind: S at 20G31 kts,
Peak Wind: 35 kts, S at 6:36 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, decresing unsteadily
Visibility: 25 miles, except 15 NW-NE, 35 NE-SE
6-hr Max temp: 41F
6-hr Min temp: 31F
24-hr precip: 0.01 ins.
24-hr snowfall: Trace
BHO SA 1155 E65 BKN 75 OVC 25 146/41/37/1920G31/995/ FEW CUFRA
WSW-NW FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR ESE-SSE THN SPTS IOVC OVHD VSBY 15
NW-NE 35 NE-SE HAZY PK WND 1835/36/ 8/72/ 57033 10041 20031

10 A.M.
Weather: Broken Altocumulus, hazy
Temperature: 43F; Dew Point: 35F; Wind: S at 18 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.90 ins. Hg, steady then decreasing
Visibility: 35 miles, except 25 miles NNE-E
BHO SA 1455 E75 BKN 35 125/43/35/2018/990/ VSBY 25 NNE-E HAZY/
8/02/ 58021

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered altostratus and altocumulus and thin
scattered cirrus, clear band along horizon W
Temperature: 55F; Dew Point: 32F; Wind: SW at 18 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.83 ins. Hg, steady, then falling
Visibility: 70 miles, except 30 miles SE-SSW
6-hr Max temp: 55F
6-hr Min temp: 41F
BHO SA 1755 80 SCT 170 SCT 70 101/55/32/2218G23/983/ VSBY 30
SE-SSW CLR BND ALNG HRZN W/ 8/034 58024 10055 20041

SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..39   NORMAL…..37
MIN…..16   NORMAL…..20
MEAN….28   NORMAL…..29

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………….-1
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………+18 [+0.7 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..37   DEPARTURE……….+2
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….701   DEPARTURE………-20
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..3443   DEPARTURE……..-808
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……4278   DIFFERENCE…….-835

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY……………….24 SSW AT 11:44 P.M.
ASOS……………………26 S   AT  7:18 P.M.
DAVIS…………………..25 S   AT 12:40 P.M. RMY N/A
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY…………………18 SSE AT 11:48 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE………………18 S   AT 10:46 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE……………..18 S   AT  7:18 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION……………9.4 S
ASOS……………………9.8
DAVIS…………………..8.5 SSW [208 Deg.]

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.01  DEPARTURE……-0.14
ASOS…………..0.02
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….4.09  DEPARTURE……+1.43
ASOS…………..4.33
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………..7.86  DEPARTURE……+0.85
ASOS…………..8.27

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M………Trace DEPARTURE…….-0.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH……………22.5  DEPARTURE……+13.6
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..38.1  DEPARTURE…….-3.9

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/ AERO/RMY 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

2/1   64/40/52/+26/0.00/0.0/…/..          36 WNW AERO 37 W   RMY 34
2/2   48/31/40/+14/0.00/0.0/…/..          23 NW  AERO 23 WNW RMY N/A
2/3   55/34/45/+19/0.80/0.0/000/00          55 SSE AERO 58 SSE RMY 53
2/4   55/39/47/+21/…./0.0/000/00          37 W   AERO 36 W   RMY 35
2/5   39/19/29/+3/…./12.5/000/00          37 NNW AERO 39 NNW RMY 35
2/6   35/17/26/0/0.00/0.0/…/..            25 SSW AERO 24 SSW RMY 23
2/7   43/26/35/+8/0.00/0.0/…/..           35 ENE AERO 35 ENE RMY N/A
2/8   36/16/26/-1/…./…/000/00           53 NE  AERO 55 NE  RMY 53
2/9   26/17/22/-5/…./…/000/00           21 N   AERO 22 N   RMY N/A
2/10  33/21/27/+0/0.01/0.0/…/..           23 W   AERO 23 W   RMY 21
2/11  26/7/17/-10/T/T/…/..                39 W   AERO 47 W   RMY 42
2/12  23/4/13/-14/0.00/0.0/…/..           31 WNW AERO 38 WNW RMY 21
2/13  21/-7/7/-21/0.00/0.0/…/..           41 W   AERO 46 WNW RMY 43
2/14  10/-14/-2/-30/0.00/0.0/…/..         33 WNW AERO 46 WNW RMY N/A
2/15  32/-2/15/-13/…./1.2/…/..          24 E   AERO 28 E   RMY N/A
2/16  55/32/44/+16/…./0.0/…/..          65 SSE AERO 69 SSE RMY 64
2/17  43/30/37/+9/0.00/0.0/…/..           33 W   AERO 35 W   RMY N/A
2/18  32/20/26/+3/0.00/0.0/…/..           25 NNW AERO 29 NW  RMY 25
2/19  39/16/28/-1/0.01/T/…/..             24 SSW AERO 26 SSW RMY N/A

2/20  morning low temp. since midnight 30F; normal now 20F

DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2016

2/14/16: **NEW DAILY RECORD LOW MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF -14F,
SURPASSING PREVIOUS RECORD OF -8F SET IN 1979**
2/14/16: **TIED DAILY RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 10F,
MATCHING PREVIOUS RECORD OF 10F SET IN 1979**

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

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 20
HIGH 66F IN 1930
LOW -4F IN 1966
PRECIP 1.90 INCHES IN 1934
SNOWFALL 15.0 INCHES IN 1921,1934
PEAK GUST 78 MPH NW IN 1972

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 21
HIGH 62F IN 1930
LOW -6F IN 1950
PRECIP 2.42 INCHES IN 1898
SNOWFALL 9.0 INCHES IN 1929
PEAK GUST 72 MPH WNW IN 1967

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Millette / Mike Iacono