Saturday, March 21, 2015

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

LIGHT SNOW OVERNIGHT BRINGS 1.1 INCHES OF NEW SNOW
THROUGH 7 AM…ANOTHER 0.7 INCHES FALLS THROUGH 1 PM…
OBSERVATORY SETS NEW SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD WITH
145.8 INCHES THIS SEASON…SURPASSES 144.4 INCHES IN
1995-1996…LIGHT SNOW ENDED AS FLURRIES AT 1:05 PM EST…

Light snow began Friday evening, and it snowed for several
hours before ending or becoming too light to accumulate
around 10 PM EST Friday.  Light snow began again around
sunrise this morning.  The 24-hour snowfall measurement
at 7 AM EST was 1.1 inches of new snow.  An additional
0.7 inches was measured on the snow boards for the six
hours ending at 1 PM EST. This brings the storm total up
to 1.8 inches and the seasonal total up to 145.8 inches,
which surpasses the previous seasonal record of 144.4
inches in the very snowy winter of 1995-1996. The liquid
equivalent precipitation was 0.08 inches through 7 AM EST,
with another 0.09 inches in the six hours ending at 1 PM
EST for a storm total of 0.17 inches. A survey of the
snow depth on the summit was taken this morning. The
average snow depth on the ground was 17 inches, though
the depth varies from a low of 12 inches to a high of
22 inches in various places around the summit.

For more information about this historic winter, visit our
web site at bluehill.org.

BHO Greatest Seasonal Snowfall, inches (1885-2015):

1) 145.8 in 2014-2015 (through 1 PM March 21st)
2) 144.4 in 1995-1996
3) 136.0 in 1947-1948
4) 119.4 in 2004-2005
5) 113.1 in 2002-2003
6) 111.5 in 1915-1916
7) 109.6 in 1966-1967
8) 106.8 in 1955-1956
9) 103.4 in 1903-1904
10) 102.5 in 1922-1923

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Partial obscuration, light snow and fog, overcast
nimbostratus
Temperature: 27F; Dew Point: 26F; Wind: NNW at 4 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 30.06 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly
Visibility: 1 mile
6-hr Max temp: 27F
6-hr Min temp: 25F
24-hr precip: 0.08 inches
24-hr snowfall: 1.1 inches
Snow depth: 17 inches
BHO SA 1155 -X E5 OVC 1S-F 179/27/26/3304/006/ SF3 WND LGT TOTAL
NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 1.1 INS/ 8/6// 4/017 58008 6001/ 70008 10027
20025

10 A.M.
Weather: Partial obscuration, light snow and fog, broken stratus
fractus and stratocumulus, overcast nimbostratus, sun occasionally
dimly visible
Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 29F; Wind: NW at 4 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-level pressure: 30.04 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly
Visibility: 2 miles
3-hr snowfall: 0.6 inches
BHO SA 1455 -X E5 BKN 10 OVC 2S-F 173/30/29/3204/004/ SF1 SUN DMLY
VSBL WND LGT TOTAL NEW SNW PST 3 HRS 0.6 INS STORM TOTAL 1.7 INS/
8/72/ 58006

1 P.M.
Weather: Very light snow, scattered stratus fractus and nimbostratus,
overcast stratocumulus, thin spots in overcast overhead, few higher
clouds visible, sun occasionally dimly visible, precipitation
very light
Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 33F; Wind: SW at 3 kts,
Wind: Light
Sea-Level Pressure: 29.93 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly
Visibility: 20 miles, except 30 miles SW-W, 8 miles N-E
6-hr Max temp: 37F
6-hr Min temp: 27F
6-hr precip: 0.09 inches
6-hr snowall: 0.7 inches
BHO SA 1755 10 SCT E25 OVC 20S- 136/36/33/2203/993/ THN SPTS IOVC
OVHD FEW HIR CLDS VSBL SUN OCNLY DMLY VSBL VSBY N-E 8 SW-W 30 VSBY
INCR PCPN VRY LGT WND LGT TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 0.7 INS STORM
TOTAL 1.8 INS/ 8/6// 58037 6009/ 10037 20027

SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..32   NORMAL…..45
MIN…..19   NORMAL…..28
MEAN….26   NORMAL…..37

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL………………………-11
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………………-63 [-3.4 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..39  DEPARTURE……….+11
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….689  DEPARTURE……….+63
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..5397  DEPARTURE………+203
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……5291  DIFFERENCE……..+106

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………17  NNW AT  1:23 A.M.
ASOS…………………..15  N   AT  2:26 A.M.
DAVIS………………….N/A                     RMY 15
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..11  NNW AT  2:44 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..12  N   AT  2:51 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….N/A
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………..5.5 NNW
ASOS…………………..4.8
DAVIS………………….4.3 NW [307 degrees] * Last of several occurrences…

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.08   DEPARTURE…..-0.11
ASOS…………..0.08
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….1.87   DEPARTURE…..-1.48
ASOS…………..N/A
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….13.21   DEPARTURE…..+1.57
ASOS…………..N/A ***
*** ASOS monthly and annual totals not available due to erroneous readings

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……….1.1  DEPARTURE……+0.7
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….7.6  DEPARTURE……-1.8
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON………….145.1  DEPARTURE…..+88.7

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATA REPORTED:
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/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

3/1  29/14/22/-9/…./…/000/00              25 SSW RMY 25
3/2  35/22/29/-2/…./…/480/71              44 WNW RMY 48
3/3  32/13/23/-9/…./2.8/340/50              33 S   RMY N/A
3/4  41/32/37/+5/…./…/000/00              33 SW  RMY 36
3/5  36/16/26/-6/0.02/0.2/000/00              28 NW  RMY 29
3/6  26/5/16/-16/0.00/0.0/681/99              28 NW  RMY 25
3/7  38/13/26/-7/0.00/0.0/567/82              30 WSW RMY 30
3/8  41/25/33/0/T/T/208/30                    38 WNW RMY 41
3/9  45/28/37/+4/0.00/0.0/565/81              40 W   RMY 39
3/10 52/32/42/+9/…./0.0/252/36              28 S   RMY 27
3/11 55/38/47/+13/…./0.0/604/86             37 WNW RMY N/A
3/12 38/23/31/-3/0.00/0.0/677/96              44 N   RMY 48
3/13 40/18/29/-5/0.00/0.0/581/82              23 SSW RMY 26
3/14 41/29/35/0/0.84/0.0/000/00               23 SSW RMY 23
3/15 41/24/33/-2/0.03/0.6/…/..              39 NW  RMY 39
3/16 44/23/34/-1/0.00/0.0/…/..              28 NW  RMY N/A
3/17 48/25/37/+1/0.17/T/..,/..                53 NW  RMY 63
3/18 30/19/25/-11/0.00/0.0/…/..             51 NW  RMY 56
3/19 31/15/23/-13/0.00/0.0/…/..             37 NW  RMY 39
3/20 32/19/26/-11/…./…/000/00             17 NNW RMY 15

3/21 morning low temp: 25F since midnight; normal low is now 28F

DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2015

-NONE SO FAR.

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

RECORDS FOR MARCH 21
HIGH 81 IN 1921
LOW 2 IN 1885
PRECIP 2.67 INS. IN 1974
SNOWFALL 10.6 INS. IN 1958
PEAK GUST 72 MPH NE IN 1958

RECORDS FOR MARCH 22
HIGH 81 IN 2012
LOW 3 IN 1885
PRE 3.48 INS. IN 2001
SNOW 8.7 INS. 1967
WIND 84e MPH E IN 1977

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono