Sunday, March 23, 2014

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

DIM SUNSHINE THROUGH HIGH CLOUDS ALL DAY…
COLDER TEMPERATURES AND DRIER AIR RETURNING TODAY…

Gusty winds on Saturday provided a peak wind gust to 52 mph WNW
at 3:22 PM EDT yesterday afternoon.  The relatively warm weather
on Saturday brought a high temperature of 55F yesterday, though
this has being replaced by cooler air today with a high temperature
so far of 43F.  Drier air is also returning as indicated by the
dew point, which has dropped from the upper 30s early afternoon
yesterday to the upper single digits this afternoon.  Visiblity
has improved to about 75 miles today. The sun has generally been
only dimly visible through an overcast of cirrostratus with some
lower altostratus and other clouds. The snow cover on the summit
remains a scant trace early today.  The recent warmer temperatures
and gust winds have helped to start thawing the local ponds.
Houghton’s shows 9/10 ice cover with an open area along the beach
on the north shoreline, and small openings in Ponkapoag early today
have increased during the day and reduced the ice cover to 8/10.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered altostratus, overcast
cirrostratus and cirrus fibratus, few altocumulus lenticularis
WNW-NNE, few lower altocumulus distant ESE-SE, sun dimly visible
Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 23F; Wind: WSW at 8 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.99 ins. Hg, rising
Visibility: 45 miles, hazy
6-hr max temp: 32F
6-hr min temp: 30F
Snow depth: Trace
BHO SA 1155 110 SCT 140 SCT E220 OVC 45 155/32/23/2508/999/ ACSL
WNW-NNE FEW LWR AC DSNT ESE-SE SUN DMLY VSBL HAZY/ 8/075 51013
10032 20030

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altostratus, overcast
cirrostratus, few altocumulus, breaks in overcast distant WNW-NNE,
sun dimly visible
Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: W at 10 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.98 ins. Hg, falling slightly
Visibility: 75 miles
BHO SA 1455 30 SCT 160 SCT E220 OVC 75 152/36/20/2810/998/ FEW AC
BINOVC DSNT WNW-NNE SUN DMLY VSBL/ 8/177 56003

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered altostratus, overcast cirrostratus, few cumulus
distant WNW-NNE, breaks in overcast distant W-NE, sum dimly visible
Wind: Direction variable W-NNW
Sea-level pressure: 29.92 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly
Visibility: 75 miles
6-hr max temp: 43F
6-hr min temp: 32F
BHO SA 1755 160 SCT E220 OVC 75 133/40/9/3013G22/992/ FEW CU DSNT
WNW-NNE BINOVC DSNT W-NE SUN DMLY VSBL WND 27V33/ 8/107 56019 10043
20032

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2014

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..55    NORMAL…..46
MIN…..26    NORMAL…..28
MEAN….41    NORMAL…..37

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………….+4
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………-71 [-3.0 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..24  DEPARTURE……….-4
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….753  DEPARTURE………+71
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..5344  DEPARTURE………+94
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……4804  DIFFERENCE…….+540

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………52 WNW  AT  2:22 P.M.
AERO…………………..52 WNW  AT  4:12 P.M. *
ASOS…………………..53 S    AT 11:13 P.M.
DAVIS………………….52 W    AT  3:09 P.M. RMY 53
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..39 WNW  AT  3:43 P.M. *
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..39 W    AT  3:43 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….36 S    AT 11:14 A.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………17.6 WNW
ASOS…………………17.1
DAVIS………………..15.3 WSW [249 deg.]

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M…Trace  DEPARTURE………….-0.19
ASOS…………..0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….1.00  DEPARTURE………….-2.91
ASOS…………..1.01
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….11.09  DEPARTURE………….-1.24
ASOS………….11.55

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……….0.0  DEPARTURE…………..-0.3
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….2.5  DEPARTURE…………..-7.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..84.3  DEPARTURE………….+27.3

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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:  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  34/12/23/-8/0.00/0.0/458/68          28 SSW AERO 29 MPH SSW RMY 30
3/2  37/28/33/2/T/T/014/02                22 SW  AERO 22 MPH SW  RMY 29
3/3  28/11/20/-12/0.00/0.0/000/00         29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY N/A
3/4  29/6/18/-14/0.00/0.0/444/65          17 SW  AERO 16 MPH SW  RMY 17
3/5  27/16/22/-10/0.02/0.3/000/00         21 NE  AERO 20 MPH N   RMY 23
3/6  26/7/17/-15/0.00/0.0/689/100         23 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY N/A
3/7  35/16/26/-7/0.00/0.0/449/65          18 SE  AERO 17 MPH SE  RMY 18
3/8  52/27/40/+7/0.00/0.0/673/97          26 NW  AERO 29 MPH NNW RMY 27
3/9  40/25/33/0/0.00/0.0/669/96           28 NW  AERO 29 MPH NW  RMY 29
3/10 42/26/34/+1/0.03/0.8/196/28          21 S   AERO 22 MPH S   RMY 27
3/11 56/34/45/+11/0.00/0.0/450/64         33 W   AERO 33 MPH W   RMY 34
3/12 53/34/44/+10/0.50/T/120/17           29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY 30
3/13 33/12/23/-11/0.14/1.4/007/01         43 NW  AERO 45 MPH NW  RMY 45
3/14 37/10/24/-11/0.00/0.0/498/70         39 SSW AERO 41 MPH SSW RMY 42
3/15 54/35/45/+10/0.01/0.0/450/63         50 WNW AERO 58 MPH WNW RMY 54
3/16 34/21/28/-7/0.00/0.0/509/71          36 W   AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 37
3/17 30/13/22/-14/0.00/0.0/562/78         25 N   AERO 26 MPH N   RMY 19
3/18 35/16/26/-10/0.00/0.0/701/97         18 ENE AERO 16 MPH ENE RMY 18
3/19 44/23/34/-2/…./…/…/..          24 E   AERO 23 MPH E   RMY 26
3/20 51/35/43/+6/…./0.0/…/..          36 W   AERO 37 MPH W   RMY 39
3/21 42/29/36/-1/0.00/0.0/…/..          40 W   AERO 41 MPH W   RMY 42
3/22 55/26/41/+4/T/0.0/…/..             52 WNW AERO 52 MPH WNW RMY 53

3/23 morning low temp: 30F; the normal low is now 29F

DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2014
None so far.

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

RECORDS FOR MARCH 23
HIGH 78 IN 1938
LOW 3 IN 1934
PRE 2.52 INS. IN 2010
SNOW 3.0 INS. IN 1977
WIND 78e MPH W IN 1940

RECORDS FOR MARCH 24
HIGH 70 IN 1920
LOW 6 IN 1906
PRECIP 1.51 INS. IN 1956
SNOWFALL 12.3 INS. IN 1956
PEAK GUST 71 MPH W IN 1968

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono