Saturday, July 4, 2015

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, JULY, 4 2015 INDEPENDENCE DAY
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

MOSTLY CLOUDY BUT DRY CONDITIONS TODAY

Mostly cloudy skies have been in place today, but dry weather has prevailed
so far on this Independence Day.  Temperatures have been on the cool side,
running in the low 70s since mid-morning.  The high for the day so far is 74F,
after a near normal morning low of 61F.  Winds have been light and variable,
with visibility around 50-60 miles.  While not ideal holiday weather, it is
certainly much better than what we were dealing with one year ago, when
Hurricane Arthur passed offshore and brought a daily record 2.48 inches of
rain to the summit.

Happy 4th of July from all of us here at BHO!

PRELIMINARY STATS FOR JUNE 2015

TEMPERATURE, Deg. F
Avg. Max. 72.9 [-2.1] Avg. Min. 55.8 [-1.3] Mean      64.4 [-1.7] Corrected mean: 63.9
Max. for month: 86 on 6/12
Min. for month: 44 on 6/2 and 6/3

HEATING DEGREE DAYS
Total heating units: 101 [+28] Total for the season: 6505 [+129] Total for last season: 6422

COOLING DEGREE DAYS
Total cooling units: 89 [-16] Total for the season: 138 [+9] Total for last season: 109

PRECIPITATION, Inches
Total: 4.90 [+0.59] Greatest in 24 hrs: N/A

WIND, mph
Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 10.4
Avg. corrected wind speed: 10.9
Prevailing wind direction: S @ 12%
Peak gust and direction: 41 SSW on the 8th

SUNSHINE:
Astronomical total minutes:  12,941 out of 27,416 possible, or 47%
Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 12,470 out of 26,376 possible, or 47%

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Broken altocumulus, overcast altostratus, bright spots in overcast NE-E
Temperature: 65F; Dew Point: 57F; Wind: S at 6 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.01 ins. Hg, rising then falling
Visibility: 60 miles, light distant haze
6-hr Max temp: 65F
6-hr Min temp: 61F
24-hr precip: none
BHO SA 1155 E140 BKN 190 OVC 60 164/65/57/1906/001/ BRGT SPTS INOVC NE-E
LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/07/ 58002 10065 20061

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, overcast altostratus
Temperature: 70F; Dew Point: 57F; Wind: estimated SSE at 4 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 30.01 ins. Hg, about steady
Visibility: 50 miles
BHO SA 1455 100 SCT E130 OVC 50 163/70/57/E1604/001/ SUN DMLY VSBL DSNT HZ/
8/07/ 55001

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, overcast altostratus, few stratocumulus NNW
Temperature: 71F; Dew Point: 54F; Wind: estimated SSE at 4 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 29.99 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly
Visibility: 55 miles, distant haze
6-hr Max temp: 74F
6-hr Min temp: 65F
BHO SA 1755 90 SCT E110 OVC 55 157/71/54/E1504/999/ FEW SC NNW DSNT HZ/
8/57/ 56006 10074 20065

SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..78   NORMAL…..80
MIN…..59   NORMAL…..62
MEAN….69   NORMAL…..71

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL……………………-2
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………-1 [-0.5 DEGREES/DAY]

COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY……………4   DEPARTURE……….-2
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..15   DEPARTURE……….-3
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON…………153   DEPARTURE……….+6
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE…….149   DIFFERENCE………+4

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY……………….17  SSW  AT   8:46 P.M.*
ASOS……………………19  W    AT  11:42 A.M.
DAVIS…………………..17  W    AT   4:46 P.M.  RMY 17
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY…………………13  W    AT   4:46 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE………………14  W    AT   4:48 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE……………..12  W    AT   4:48 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………. .8.1 N
ASOS……………………8.2
DAVIS…………………..6.6 NW [306] deg.
* Last of several occurrences…

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M…..0.00  DEPARTURE…..-0.11
ASOS……………0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH………..0.59  DEPARTURE…..+0.26
ASOS……………0.60
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………. 24.86   DEPARTURE….-2.31
ASOS……………N/A ***

*** ASOS annual totals not available due to erroneous readings

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

6/1  48/46/47/-15/0.69/000/00              32 NE  RMY 34
6/2  47/44/46/-16/0.78/000/00              28 NNE RMY 28
6/3  59/44/52/-10/0.00/172/19              16 ESE RMY 16
6/4  63/46/55/-8/0.00/445/49               17 E   RMY 16
6/5  70/49/60/-3/T/500/55                  17 NNE RMY 17
6/6  65/52/59/-4/0.06/382/42               26 ENE RMY 27
6/7  73/49/61/-3/0.00/884/97               28 S   RMY 29
6/8  73/50/62/-2/T/310/34                  41 SSW RMY 48
6/9  76/61/69/+4/0.03/228/25               29 SSW RMY 32
6/10 82/57/70/+5/0.00/840/92               24 WSW RMY N/A
6/11 85/61/73/+8/0.00/594/65               29 SSW RMY 32
6/12 86/65/76/+11/0.00/522/57              26 S   RMY 29
6/13 83/67/75/+10/T/586/64                 24 N   RMY 27
6/14 75/61/68/+2/0.00/641/70               21 SSE RMY 21
6/15 61/52/57/-9/0.60/000/00               25 SE  RMY 26
6/16 73/56/65/-1/…./009/01               18 NW  RMY N/A
6/17 70/57/64/-3/0.00/605/66               28 NE  RMY 28
6/18 76/54/65/-2/0.00/669/73               22 S   RMY 26
6/19 84/60/72/+5/T/642/70                  24 SSW RMY 22
6/20 75/56/66/-2/…./559/61               23 SSE RMY N/A
6/21 76/60/68/0/…./202/22                26 S   RMY 29
6/22 83/63/73/+5/0.00/770/84               20 WNW RMY 19
6/23 85/67/76/+8/0.01/284/31               36 S   RMY 38
6/24 82/62/72/+3/0.00/899/98               25 WNW RMY 27
6/25 80/60/70/+1/0.00/605/66               21 W   RMY N/A
6/26 72/58/65/-4/0.01/540/59               23 NNE RMY 21
6/27 73/56/65/-4/…./202/22               32 ESE RMY N/A
6/28 59/50/55/-15/…./000/00              39 ENE RMY 38
6/29 71/50/61/-9/…./110/12               17 SSW RMY 18
6/30 81/60/71/+1/T/741/81                  21 S   RMY N/A

7/1  80/63/72/+2/0.59/…/..               30 SSE RMY 33  TSTM
7/2  78/60/69/-1/0.00/…/..               23 WNW RMY N/A
7/3  79/58/69/-2/0.00/…/..               17 SSW RMY 17

7/4 low since midnight is 61F; normal low is now 62F

DAILY RECORDS FOR JUNE AND JULY 2015

6/1- NEW RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 48F
surpasses previous record of 51F in 2004

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

RECORDS FOR JULY 4
HIGH 98F IN 1911, 1919, 1949
LOW 48F IN 1914
PRECIP 2.48 IN 2014
PEAK GUST 50e MPH WNW IN 1949

RECORDS FOR JULY 5
HIGH 98F IN 1911
LOW 48F IN 1920, 1927 & 1979
PRECIP 1.45 INS IN 1922
PEAK GUST 44e N IN 1944

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Jonathan O’Brien