Thursday, August 22, 2013

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

VERY WARM, HAZY AND HUMID TODAY

Today is warm and humid with lots of haze. This morning’s visibility was
only about 10 miles. Temperatures this afternoon reached into the mid 80s.
This will allow the day to finish above normal for the third time in a row.
This is our longest streak of above normal temperatures since July 24,
where we started a cool pattern on July 25th. We have not reached 90F
since July 20 (93F) and we might struggle to hit 90F today. There is an
upper level layer of cirrus clouds, along with lower level cumulus. The
clouds could keep the temperatures from reaching the highest possible
max. The clouds are from downpours that have developed across CT and RI.

Below normal precipitation

The month of August has been dry and we are now running below normal for
rain (-0.33 inches). The last significant rainfall was on August 9th, with
a total of 2.21 inches. Today there is plenty of moisture in the air with
dew point readings in the mid 60s (66F at the time of report). If our
atmosphere allows rain to develop, it should be able to give us measurable
precipation. The last time we had measurable precipitation was on August
13th with only 0.02 inches.

An interesting fact about August is that we have had lots of sunshine!
We are around 68% of possible sunshine. The normal is about 58%. We are
running 10 points above normal, with only one day in August without
observable sunshine.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered dense cirrus, thin broken cirrus, thin overcast cirrus
Temperature: 70F; Dew Point: 64F; Wind: SW at 8 kts.
Sea-level pressure: 30.01 ins. Hg, falling slightly
Visibility: 12 miles, hazy, thin fog below dissipating inversion all
quadrants, top of inversion estimated 7 hundred feet over city N,
hazy all quadrants
6-hr min. temp: 67F
BHO SA 1155 220 SCT 250 –SCT 300 –OVC 9 163/70/64/2208/001/ PTCHS DNS CI
S-W AND FEW NNW FEW CC OVHD THN F BLO INVSN ESTMTD TOP 7 HND OVR CTY N
HAZY ALQDS/ 8/002 56004 10070 20067

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrus, thin broken and thin overcast cirrus, few
altocumulus and altocumulus lenticularis SW
Temperature: 83F; Dew Point: 68F; Wind: WSW at 6 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.00 ins. Hg, falling slightly
Visibility: 10 miles, NE 12 miles, hazy
BHO SA 1455 220 SCT 250 –BKN 300 –OVC 10 159/83/68/2406/000/ FEW AC/ACSL
SW VSBY NE 12 HAZY ALQDS/ 8/041 56004

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered cumulus, moderate cumulus, few towering cumulus vicinity
NW-NNE, cumulonimbus/showers of rain and dark south, activity moving ENE,
few towering cumulus distant NW-NNW, overcast partly thin vicinity NW-NNE,
sun dimly visible
Temperature: 82F; Dew Point: 69F; Wind: SSW at 12 kts,
Wind: Direction variable S-WSW
Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, falling then more slowly
Visibility: 12 miles, except 7 miles, rain shower S, hazy
6-hr max. temp: 84F
BHO SA 1755 45 SCT E200 BKN 250 OVC 12 143/82/69/2112/995/ CB/SHRA DRK S
MOVG ENE FEW TCU DSNT NW-NNW FEW MDT CU ALQDS SUN DMLY VSB OVC PTLY THN
VC NW-NNE HAZY ALQDS WND 17V25/ 8/203 56016 10084 20070

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..87 NORMAL…..79
MIN…..65 NORMAL…..61
MEAN….76 NORMAL…..70

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL…………………..+6
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………….-34 [-1.7 DEGREES/DAY]

COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY………….11 DEPARTURE………+5
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………100 DEPARTURE……..-38
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..583 DEPARTURE……..+94
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……644 DIFFERENCE…….-61

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY…………….18 WSW AT 11:17 P.M
AERO…………………18 WSW AT 11:17 P.M
ASOS…………………18 WSW AT 11:17 P.M
DAVIS………………..16 SSW AT 3:41 P.M
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………13 WSW AT 11:33 P.M
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………13 WSW AT 11:51 P.M
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………..12 NW AT 3:41 P.M
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………..8.2 WSW
ASOS………………..8.2
DAVIS……………….7.1 W [260] * last of several occurrences…

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M… 0.00 DEPARTURE…………-0.13
ASOS…………..0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….2.55 DEPARTURE…………-0.33
ASOS…………..2.60
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….37.84 DEPARTURE…………+3.97
ASOS…………..N/A*
*ASOS malfunctioned during storm on 2/8-9, leading to erroneous totals

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 2013 CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATA REPORTED:
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/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

8/1 81/62/72/0/0.01/503/58 25 S AERO 26 MPH S RMY 27
8/2 81/62/72/0/0.23/518/60 26 W AERO 26 MPH W RMY 28
8/3 77/63/70/-2/T/276/32 22 WSW AERO 23 MPH WSW RMY 23
8/4 79/58/69/-3/T/645/75 25 WNW AERO 21 MPH WNW RMY 26
8/5 75/54/65/-7/0.00/858/100 26 WNW AERO 25 MPH WNW RMY 27
8/6 78/56/67/-5/0.00/846/99 17 ESE AERO 15 MPH S RMY 16
8/7 80/59/70/-2/0.00/759/89 21 S AERO 21 MPH S RMY N/A
8/8 79/62/71/-1/0.08/153/18 25 S AERO 25 MPH S RMY N/A
8/9 73/70/72/0/2.21/000/00 37 S AERO 39 MPH S RMY 40
8/10 81/61/71/-1/0.00/795/94 30 WNW AERO 31 MPH WNW RMY 31
8/11 78/58/68/-3/0.00/835/99 18 W AERO 18 MPH W RMY 21
8/12 81/62/72/+1/0.00/656/78 18 W AERO 17 MPH WSW RMY 19
8/13 73/64/69/-2/0.02/193/23 16 SSE AERO 15 MPH SSE RMY N/A
8/14 73/57/65/-6/0.00/819/98 35 W AERO 35 MPH W RMY 35
8/15 75/53/64/-7/0.00/808/97 23 W AERO 23 MPH W RMY 24
8/16 77/57/67/-4/0.00/740/89 20 W AERO 19 MPH W RMY 21
8/17 77/59/68/-3/0.00/770/93 18 W AERO 18 MPH W RMY N/A
8/18 80/62/71/0/T/231/28 16 SSW AERO 17 MPH SSW RMY 18
8/19 82/58/70/0/T/…/.. 17 W AERO 18 MPH W RMY 20
8/20 85/64/75/+5/0.00/…/.. 17 NW AERO 18 MPH NW RMY N/A
8/21 87/65/76/+6/0.00/…/.. 18 WSW AERO 18 MPH WSW RMY 18

8/22 morning low temp: 67F; the normal low is now 61 F

DAILY RECORDS FOR AUGUST 2013
None so far.

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

RECORDS FOR AUGUST 22
HIGH 90F IN 1939
LOW 42F IN 1894
PRECIP 2.28 INCHES IN 1935
PEAK GUST 44 MPH SSW IN 1987

RECORDS FOR AUGUST 23
HIGH 88F IN 1918, 1947, 1949, 1996
LOW 45F IN 1923
PRECIP 2.09 INCHES IN 2010
PEAK GUST 60e MPH NW IN 1940

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: ROBERT SKILLING AND KEVIN PECORA