Saturday, February 6, 2016

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL 12.5 INCHES ON FRIDAY…
PARTLY CLOUDY AND COLDER TODAY…

The rain and snow storm that began on Thursday evening
ended late Friday afternoon after bringing a storm total
of 12.5 inches of snow to the summit.  The total liquid
precipitation for the storm was 1.70 inches, though this
included some rain early on Friday.  Much of the heavy
and wet snow remained on the trees throughout the area
including on the summit, which provided an unusually
white scene across eastern Massachusetts from the top
of Great Blue Hill. After a high temperature early on
Friday of 39 degrees F, the morning low today dropped
to 17F, which is just 1 degree F below the normal for
this date. The sky has been partly cloudy with mostly
thin cirrus and cirrostratus during the day today, which
has only partly filtered the sun. For a short time at
mid-day a partial 22-degree halo was observed around
the sun through the high clouds.

The month of January finished significantly warmer than
normal at 4.3 degrees F above normal. The average minimum
temperature of 22.3F was more than 5 degrees above normal.
January was drier than normal as well, with precipitation
0.58 inches less than normal, and snowfall 2.8 inches less
than normal.

PRELIMINARY STATS FOR JANUARY 2016

TEMPERATURE, Deg. F
Avg. Max. 37.2 [+3.4] Avg. Min. 22.3 [+5.2] Mean      29.8 [+4.3]     (corrected)
24-hour Corrected Mean: 29.5
Max. for month: 58 on 10th
Min. for month:  4 on  5th

HEATING DEGREE DAYS
Total cooling units: 1086 [-140] Total for the season: 2742 [-789] Total for last season: 3531

PRECIPITATION, Inches
Total: 3.77 [-0.58] Greatest in 24 hrs: 1.55 ins. on the 10th
Snowfall: 14.3 [-2.8] Greatest in 24 hrs: 7.1 ins. on the 23rd

WIND, mph
Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 13.7
Avg. corrected wind speed: 14.0
Prevailing wind direction: NW @ 19%
Peak gust and direction: 55 WNW on the 19th

SUNSHINE:
Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 8964 out of 17130 poss. or 149.4 hours or 52%   (corrected)
Astronomical total minutes:   9243 out of 17638 poss. or 154.1 hours or 52%   (corrected)

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Thin scattered cirrus
Temperature: 18F; Dew Point: 15F; Wind: W at 10 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.38 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly
Visibility: 60 miles, visibility NE-SE 70, light distant haze
6-hr Max temp: 19F
6-hr Min temp: 17F
24-hr precip: 1.14 ins.
24-hr snowfall: 10.5 ins.
Snow depth: 12 ins.
BHO SA 1155 250 -SCT 60 287/18/15/2810/038/ VSBY NE-SE 70
LGT DSNT HZ SW-N TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 10.5 INS STORM
TOTAL 12.5 INS/ 8/001 4/012 53016 70114 10019 20017

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrostratus, overcast cirrus, thin spots
in overcast all quadrants, breaks in overcast all quadrants,
partial halo, thin smoke layer along horizon NW-SE, hazy
Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: W at 7 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.41 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly
Visibility: 35 miles, visibility W-NW 25 NE-SE 45, hazy
BHO SA 1455 200 SCT 250 OVC 35 298/25/20/2607/041/ THN SPTS
IOVC ALQDS BINOVC ALQDS PARTIAL HALO VSBY W-NW 25 NE-SE 45
THN K LYR ALG HRZN NW-SE HAZY 8/007 53011

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrostratus, thin broken cirrus, hazy
Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 28F; Wind: S at 10 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.34 ins. Hg, falling then more quickly
Visibility: 35 miles, visibility NE-SE 50
6-hr Max temp: 32F
6-hr Min temp: 18F
BHO SA 1755 200 SCT 250 -BKN 35 274/32/28/1910/034/ VSBY
NE-SE 50 HAZY/ 8/007 58024 10032 20018

SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..39   NORMAL…..35
MIN…..19   NORMAL…..17
MEAN….29   NORMAL…..26

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………….+3
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………+83 [+16.4 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..36   DEPARTURE……….-3
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….112   DEPARTURE………-83
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..2854   DEPARTURE……..-872
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……3581   DIFFERENCE…….-727

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY……………….37 NNW AT  3:05 P.M.
ASOS……………………38 NNW AT  3:05 P.M.
DAVIS…………………..32 NNW AT  4:13 P.M. RMY 35
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY…………………22 NNW AT  3:05 P.M. *
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE………………25 NNW AT  3:06 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE……………..22 NNW AT  2:59 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………….13.8 NNW
ASOS………………….14.2
DAVIS…………………12.0 NNW [348 Deg.]

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….1.14  DEPARTURE……+1.00
ASOS…………..1.18
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….2.50  DEPARTURE……+0.82
ASOS…………..2.55
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………..6.27  DEPARTURE……+1.24
ASOS…………..6.49

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M………10.5  DEPARTURE……+10.0
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH……………12.5  DEPARTURE……+10.0
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..28.1  DEPARTURE…….-7.5

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATA REPORTED:
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

1/1   37/29/33/+6/0.00/0.0/005/01           29 W               RMY 29
1/2   37/27/32/+5/0.00/0.0/461/84           31 W               RMY N/A
1/3   41/27/34/+8/0.00/0.0/501/91           28 W               RMY 29
1/4   30/10/20/-6/T/T/000/00                29 NNW             RMY 29
1/5   23/4/14/-12/0.00/0.0/552/100          28 NNW             RMY N/A
1/6   43/17/30/+4/0.00/0.0/553/100          24 SW              RMY 24
1/7   43/25/34/+8/0.00/0.0/493/89  *        21 SW              RMY N/A
1/8   40/28/34/+8/0.00/0.0/000/00           28 E   AERO 25 ENE RMY 25
1/9   39/36/38/+12/T/0.0/000/00             21 ENE AERO 20 ENE RMY N/A
1/10  58/38/48/+23/1.55/0.0/000/00          53 SSE AERO 55 SSE RMY 53
1/11  48/21/35/+10/0.00/0.0/559/100         43 W   AERO 45 WSW RMY N/A
1/12  35/19/27/+2/0.18/2.2/359/64           30 SE  AERO N/A    RMY N/A
1/13  30/17/24/-1/0.02/0.2/551/98           50 W   AERO 58 W   RMY 54
1/14  28/17/23/-2/T/T/389/69                26 W   AERO N/A    RMY 25
1/15  40/23/32/+7/0.00/0.0/102/18           26 ESE AERO 25 ESE RMY 23
1/16  41/32/37/+12/1.03/T/000/00            32 NNW AERO 32 NNW RMY 28
1/17  33/26/30/+5/0.09/1.7/125/22           29 WNW AERO 28 WNW RMY N/A
1/18  26/15/21/-4/0.16/2.9/467/82  *        50 W   AERO 50 W   RMY 47
1/19  22/13/18/-7/0.00/0.0/194/34           55 WNW AERO 59 W   RMY 55
1/20  30/15/23/-2/0.00/0.0/471/82           46 WNW AERO 47 WNW RMY 45
1/21  30/15/23/-2/0.00/0.0/559/97           38 WNW AERO 38 NW  RMY 35
1/22  28/14/21/-4/0.00/0.0/399/69           32 NW  AERO 32 NW  RMY N/A
1/23  30/18/24/-1/0.74/7.1/000/00           54 NE  AERO 56 NE  RMY 50
1/24  33/14/24/-1/T/T/466/80                34 N   AERO 37 N   RMY 29
1/25  37/20/29/+4/0.00/0.0/444/76           22 NW  AERO 22 NW  RMY N/A
1/26  49/27/38/+13/0.00/0.0/064/11          44 SSW AERO 47 SSW RMY 43
1/27  43/27/35/+10/0.00/0.0/182/31          38 WNW AERO 40 SSW RMY 37
1/28  41/23/32/+7/0.00/0.0/537/91           29 SSW AERO 29 SSW RMY 29
1/29  39/32/36/+11/0.00/0.0/012/02          25 NW  AERO 24 NW  RMY 28
1/30  42/26/33/+8/0.00/0.0/482/81  *        39 SW  AERO 43 SW  RMY 38
1/31  56/36/46/+20/0.00/0.0/316/53  *       37 S   AERO 38 S   RMY 36

* Sunshine corrected on 7th, 18th, 30th, 31st

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 morning low since midnight 17F; normal low is 18F

DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2016

**1/10/16: NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 58F, BREAKS
PREVIOUS RECORD OF 54F SET BACK IN 2000**

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

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 6
HIGH 54F IN 1909
LOW -10F IN 1895
PRECIP 1.88 INS. IN 1896
SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1978 [BLIZZARD OF 1978] PEAK GUST 84e MPH NE IN 1978

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 7
HIGH 51F IN 1951,1953
LOW -8F IN 1910
PRECIP 2.12 INS. IN 1983
SNOWFALL 17.1 INS. IN 1978 [BLIZZARD OF 1978] PEAK GUST 87e MPH SSE IN 1951

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono