Saturday, January 18, 2014

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

INTENSIFYING STORM OFFSHORE BRINGING A MIX OF WINTER WEATHER TODAY…
LIGHT RAIN EARLIER THIS MORNING TURNS TO HEAVY SNOW AT MID-DAY…
FOUR INCHES ON THE SUMMIT THIS AFTERNOON…

Light rain began earlier this morning with the temperature above
freezing. By mid-morning, this was mixing with snow. A single
clap of thunder was heard at 10:56 AM, and the precipitation
became all snow shortly after 11 AM.  The snow became moderate
before noon and heavy by 12:20 PM. The heavy snow continued for
over and hour as the temperature dropped to near freezing.  The
snowfall total through 1 PM was 1.8 inches, which included 1.5 inches
in the hour from 12-1 PM.  The melted equivalent precipitation for the
six hours ending at 1 PM was 0.53 inch.  As of 3 PM, an additional
2.0 inches of snow was measured in the past two hours, bringing the
storm total to 3.8 inches of snow. Most of this snow fell in about
three hours from noon to 3 PM. The snow depth on the summit is four
inches at 3 PM. The wind has been generally light as it backed from
E earlier this morning to NNE as of early afternoon.

Yesterday was the seventh consecutive day to average warmer than
normal by +10 degrees or more.  The month is now running more
than two degrees warmer than normal per day.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Light rain and light drizzle, overcast nimbostratus,
few stratocumulus, thin patchy ground fog all quadrants
Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 34F; Wind: ENE at 4 kts
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 29.84 ins. Hg, falling
Visibility: 10 miles
6-hr. min temp: 34F
6-hr. rainfall: 0.01 inch
BHO SA 1155 E45 OVC 10R-L- 104/34/34/0604/984/ FEW SC THN PTCHY GF
ALQDS WND LGT R-EL-B05R-B55/ 8/52/ 56017 6001/ 70001 10037 20034

10 A.M.
Weather: Sky partly obscured in light rain, light snow and fog,
overcast nimbostratus, stratus drifting over summit
Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 34F; Wind: E at 10 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 29.79 ins. Hg, falling
Visibility: 3 miles
BHO SA 1455 –X 10 SCT E25 OVC 3R-S-F 089/34/34/1010/979/ F2 STRA
DRFTG OVR SMT/ 8/72/ 56015 6010/

1 P.M.
Weather: Sky obscured in heavy snow and fog, heavy snow occasionally
moderate, snow increasing 2 inches past hour, total new snow past
6 hours 1.8 inches
Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 32F; Wind: NNE at 9 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 29.64 ins. Hg, falling rapidly
Visibility: 1/4 mile
6-hr max. temp: 35F
6-hr min. temp: 32F
6-hr rainfall: 0.53 inch
6-hr snowfall: 1.8 inches
BHO SA 1755 W4 X 1/4S+F 037/32/32/0109/964/ S+ OCNL S SNOINCR 2/2
PRESFR TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 1.8 INS/ 8//// 4/002 58052 6053/
10035 20032

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2014

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..44    NORMAL…..33
MIN…..33    NORMAL…..17
MEAN….39    NORMAL…..25

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………..+14
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH…………………..+47 [+2.6 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..26  DEPARTURE………-14
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….622  DEPARTURE………-46
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..2899  DEPARTURE………-73
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……2559 DIFFERENCE……..+340

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………21 SW  AT  3:33 P.M. *
AERO…………………..21 SW  AT  3:33 P.M. *
ASOS…………………..23 SW  AT  3:34 P.M.
DAVIS………………….22 SW  AT  3:33 P.M.  RMY 22
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..18 SW  AT  3:24 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..18 SW  AT  3:24 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….17 SSW AT  3:24 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………10.4 S
ASOS…………………10.1
DAVIS……………….. 9.2 SSW [206 deg.] * Last of several occurrences

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.01  DEPARTURE………….-0.14
ASOS…………..0.01
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….3.32  DEPARTURE………….+0.89 *
ASOS…………..3.71
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………..3.32  DEPARTURE………….+0.89 *
ASOS…………..3.71
* Monthly and annual precipitation and departures corrected.

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……..0.0    DEPARTURE…………..-0.6
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH………….15.9      DEPARTURE…………..+6.3
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………31.6    DEPARTURE…………..+6.0

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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:  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

1/1  26/16/21/-6/0.00/0.0/505/92          25 W   AERO 25 MPH W   RMY 27
1/2  24/00/12/-15/0.97/10.9/000/00        39 NNE AERO 39 MPH NNE RMY 39
1/3  12/-3/05/-21/0.38/4.7/270/49         36 N   AERO 39 MPH N   RMY 34
1/4  25/-4/11/-15/0.00/0.0/545/99         35 SSW AERO 37 MPH SSW RMY 38
1/5  42/23/33/+07/0.08/0.0/259 47         30 SE  AERO 32 MPH SE  RMY 42
1/6  57/25/41/+15/0.29/0.0/006/01         41 S   AERO 46 MPH S   RMY 48
1/7  25/06/16/-10/0.00/0.0/555/100        44 WNW AERO 46 MPH WNW RMY 42
1/8  21/3/12/-14/0.00/0.0/550/99          28 WSW AERO 29 MPH WSW RMY N/A
1/9  28/13/21/-5/0.00/0.0/540/97          23 WNW AERO 24 MPH WNW RMY 27
1/10 37/17/27/+2/0.05/0.3/000/00          17 SSW AERO 18 MPH SW  RMY N/A
1/11 57/37/47/+22/0.67/0.0/000/00  *      50 S   AERO 59 MPH S   RMY 59
1/12 51/32/42/+17/0.04/0.0/286/51         41 W   AERO 44 MPH W   RMY 42
1/13 50/30/40/+15/0.00/0.0/…/..         33 S   AERO 36 MPH S   RMY 37
1/14 49/41/45/+20/0.83/0.0/…/..         35 S   AERO 37 MPH S   RMY 32
1/15 46/33/40/+15/0.00/0.0/…/..         24 W   AERO 23 MPH W   RMY N/A
1/16 40/34/37/+12/0.00/0.0/…/..         14 ENE AERO 13 MPH ENE RMY 14
1/17 44/33/39/+14/0.00/0.0/…/..         21 SW  AERO 21 MPH SW  RMY 22

* Precipitation for the 11th corrected.

1/18 morning low temp: 33F; the normal low is now 17F

DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2014
None so far.

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

RECORDS FOR JANUARY 18
HIGH 62F IN 1973,1990
LOW -10F IN 1982
PRECIP 1.68 INS. IN 1915
SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1948
PEAK GUST 85 MPH SSE IN 2006

RECORDS FOR JANUARY 19
HIGH 59F IN 1973
LOW -11F IN 1887
PRECIP 2.34 INS. IN 1936
SNOWFALL 10.5 INS. IN 1936
PEAK GUST 93e MPH WNW IN 1943

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono / Peter Volpe