Saturday, March 21, 2020

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

OVERCAST AND COOLER THIS MORNING CHANGES TO
SUNNY AND SEASONABLE THIS AFTERNOON

The sky was nearly filled with clouds this morning as
the last of the storm that brought rain yesterday
moved offshore. By mid-day, the last of the clouds had
retreated to the southeast and bright sunshine returned.
The temperature briefly climbed into the middle to upper
60’s in the area late yesterday reaching a high on the
summit of 66F during the late afternoon. A cold front
crossed the area overnight bringing strong winds for a
time mthat reached a peak of 48 mph from the west at
11:48 PM EST. By morning, the temperature has dropped
to the upper 30’s, and it has only recovered to the
middle 40’s by afternoon. As drier air moved in today, the
dew point continued to drop all day reaching 13F at the 1 PM
observation and the upper single digits by mid-afternoon.
The visibility has been very good all day from 75-80 miles.

The high so far today back at midnight was 55F, and this
is 9 degrees above the normal high of 46F. The low since
midnight is 37F, this is 9 degrees above the normal low
of 28F.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, broken altostratus, overcast
cirrus, few cumulus and cumulus fractus distant W-NNW, few
breaks in the overcast distant W-N, thin spots in the
overcast overhead, sun dimly visible, pressure risin rapidly
Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 22F; Relative Humidity: 49%
Wind: NNW at 13G24 kts, Peak Gust: 24 kts N at 6:45 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 30.18 ins. Hg: rising then more quickly
Visibility: 75 miles
6-hr Max temp: 52F
6-hr Min temp: 39F
24-hr Precip:  0.01 ins.
24-hr Snowfall: 0.0 ins.
BHO SA 1155 100 SCT E150 BKN 220 OVC 75 219/39/22/3413G24/018/
FEW CU/CUFRA DSNT W-NNW FEW BINOVC DSNT W-N FEW THN SPTS IOVC
OVHD SUN DML VSBL PRESRR PK WND 3524/45/ 8/071 51054 70001
10052 20039

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, overcast cirrus and cirrostratus
Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 17F; Relative Humidity: 41%
Wind: NNW at 11G20 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.29 ins. Hg: rising then more rapidly
Visibility: 75 miles
3-hr Precip:  0.00 ins.
3-hr Snowfall: 0.0 ins.
BHO SA 1455 150 SCT 230 OVC 75 257/39/17/3311G20/029/ 8/036
51038

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrus and cirrostratus
Temperature: 46F; Dew Point: 13F; Relative Humidity: 26%
Wind: N at 8 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.31 ins. Hg: rising then more rapidly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 46F
6-hr Min temp: 37F
6-hr Precip:  0.00 ins.
6-hr Snowfall: 0.0 ins.
BHO SA 1755 250 SCT 80 264/46/13/3508/031/ CS/CI BAND ESE-SSW
FEW AC DSNT ESE-SE/ 8036/ 51007 10046 20037

SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2020

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..66   NORMAL…..45
MIN…..37   NORMAL…..28
MEAN….52   NORMAL…..37

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL……………….+15
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………+174 [+8.5 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY……………13  DEPARTURE…….-15
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..452  DEPARTURE……-174
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON…………4592  DEPARTURE……-602
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE…….5148  DEPARTURE……-556

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………..48 W   AT 11:48 P.M.
AERO…………………….48 W   AT 11:48 P.M.
ASOS…………………….48 W   AT 11:49 P.M.
DAVIS……………………49 W   AT 11:48 P.M. RMY 46
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………….35 W   AT 11:48 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………….33 W   AT 11:49 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE………………36 W   AT 11:49 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………..16.8 SW
ASOS…………………..16.7
DAVIS………………….15.9 SW  [231 deg.]

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.01  DEPARTURE……+0.18
ASOS…………..0.02
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….1.09  DEPARTURE……-2.43
ASOS…………..1.25
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………..5.75  DEPARTURE……-6.19
ASOS…………..6.16

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……….0.0  DEPARTURE…….-0.4
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….1.2  DEPARTURE…….-8.2
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..26.0  DEPARTURE……-30.4

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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
M:    Missing data

03/01  33/15/24/-7/0.00/0.0/…/..         28 WNW AERO 28 WNW RMY 27
03/02  52/24/38/+7/T/T/…/..              40 S   AERO 39 S   RMY 41
03/03  64/45/55/+23/…./0.0/…/..        30 S   AERO 30 S   RMY N/A
03/04  50/38/44/+12/…./0.0/…/..        56 W   AERO 56 W   RMY 58
03/05  51/32/42/+10/0.00/0.0/…/..        31 W   AERO 31 NW  RMY 32
03/06  47/30/39/+7/…./…/…/..         46 NE  AERO 45 NE  RMY 46
03/07  43/26/35/+2/…./…/…/..         42 N   AERO 43 N   RMY 44
03/08  53/26/40/+7/0.00/0.0/…/..         31 W   AERO 30 W   RMY 28
03/09  72/40/56/+23/0.00/0.0/…/..        32 SW  AERO 32 SW  RMY 31
03/10  68/49/59/+26/0.00/0.0/…/..        48 WSW AERO 46 WSW RMY 49
03/11  56/37/47/+13/0.00/0.0/…/..        31 WNW AERO M  M   RMY 21
03/12  46/31/39/+5/…./0.0/…/..         21 SE  AERO 18 SE  RMY N/A
03/13  59/38/49/+15/…./0.0/…/..        46 WNW AERO 44 WNW RMY 46
03/14  51/35/43/+8/0.00/0.0/…/..         37 W   AERO 36 W   RMY 35
03/15  47/28/38/+3/0.00/0.0/…/..         28 NW  AERO 28 NW  RMY N/A
03/16  36/22/29/-6/0.00/0.0/…/..         21 NE  AERO 21 ESE RMY 21
03/17  43/28/36/0/…./0.4/…/..          29 W   AERO 30 W   RMY 29
03/18  54/31/43/+7/…./0.0/…/..         26 S   AERO 26 S   RMY 26
03/19  43/37/40/+4/…./0.0/…/..         36 E   AERO 35 E   RMY 34
03/20  66/37/52/+15/…./0.0/…/..        48 W   AERO 48 W   RMY 46

03/20 The low since midnight is 37F, daily normal minimum is 28F

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