Thursday, February 29, 2024

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

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2024
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST)
SUNRISE: 0620E
SUNSET:  1734E

CONTINUED WINDY, BUT MUCH COLDER TODAY WITH SCATTERED FLURRIES …

A strong cold front pushed through last evening at around 10:45pm.
A rather sharp decrease in temperature occurred with the frontal
passage as the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees in about
1 hour and 15 minutes! Rain promptly started mixing with sleet
and snow before going over to all snow following the passage.
Snow and sleet managed to accumulate to 0.5″ before coming to
an end around 1am. The frontal passage was also accompanied by
very strong winds as we had an official gust of 62mph, which
occurred twice. Once just after 11:30pm, and again just before
12:30am. The 62mph that occured after midnight will set a new
record peak gust for today’s date, beating the old record of
60mph set in 1968. A bit of a special occasion for the “leap
day”.

The day started off with clear skies and plenty of sunshine,
however clouds started building by mid morning with flurries
starting to fall out of those clouds just before noon-time. We
have observed intermittent very light snow showers since.

Temperatures bottomed out in the low 20s early this morning,
and have only recovered to the low 30s early this afternoon. The
high temperature for the day occurred back at midnight at 35F
degrees, however we have not made it to the freezing mark so far
this afternoon. The dew point is quite low with readings in the
upper single digits to low teens, indicative of the arctic air
mass that’s paying us a visit today.

The wind continues to be very gusty today out of the west-
northwest. The average speed for the day so far has been around
22mph. The peak gust, as mentioned above, was 62mph, which
occurred just before 12:30am. Frequent gusts of 40-50mph have
been occurring most of the day however.

Visibility has been excellent today with a view of 80 miles,
despite the virga/snow showers dotting the region early this
afternoon.

The maximum temperature so far today is 35F degrees, which is 5
degrees below the normal high of 40F. The minimum temperature since
midnight is 22F degrees, which is 1 degree below the normal low
of 23F.

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Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant all quadrants
Temperature: 23F; Dew Point: 9F; Relative Humidity: 55%
Wind: NW @ 23G20 kts, peak wind NW 47mph at 6:01 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 1017.8 mb; 30.06 in. Hg: rising rapidly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 31F
6-hr Min temp: 22F
24-hr Precip: 0.23 inches
24-hr Snowfall: 0.5 inches
Snow Depth: Trace
BHO SA 1155 CLR 80 178/23/9/3113G20/006/ FEW SC DSNT ALQDS PRESRR
PK WND 3141/01/ TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.5 INS/ 8/500 4/000 53078
6000/ 70023 10031 20022

10 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus, virga all quadrants
Temperature: 28F; Dew Point: 9F; Relative Humidity: 45%
Wind: WNW @ 26G39 kts, peak wind WNW 45mph at 9:49 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 1021.1 mb; 30.15 in. Hg: rising, then more slowly
Visibility: 80 miles
3-hr Precip:  0.00 inches
3-hr Snowfall: 0.0 inches
BHO SA 1455 E54 BKN 80 211/28/9/2926G39/015/ VIRGA ALQDS PK WND 2939/49/
8/500 51033

1 P.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus, intermittent very light snow showers,
virga all quadrants
Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 11F; Relative Humidity: 45%
Wind: WNW @ 18G31 kts, peak wind WNW 44mph at 12:10 P.M.
Sea-level pressure: 1021.2 mb; 30.16 in. Hg: rising, then falling
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 31F
6-hr Min temp: 23F
6-hr Precip:  Trace
6-hr Snowfall: Trace
Snow Depth: Trace
BHO SA 1755 E65 BKN 80SW- 212/30/11/2918G31/016/ INTMT SW- PCPN VRY LGT
VIRGA ALQDS PK WND 2938/10/ TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS TRACE/ 8/500 4/000
50001 6000/ 10031 20023

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SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2024

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…….54   NORMAL…..40
MIN…….35   NORMAL…..22
MEAN……45   NORMAL…..31

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR (1991-2020) NORMAL………..+14
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………….+143 [+4.9 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON: JUL 2023 THRU JUN 2024)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY……………20  DEPARTURE…….-14
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..886  DEPARTURE……-143
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON…………3852  DEPARTURE……-580
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE…….3720  DEPARTURE……+132

PEAK WIND GUST (MPH):
Note: Instruments designated #1 = Main Tower, #2 = South Tower,
F420C, Contacting, Merlin, and Richards are all Main Tower.
E=Estimated

F420C (Official)……….E62 WNW  @  11:35 P.M.
VECTOR #1 (1-Sec)……….61 WNW  @  11:35 P.M.
VECTOR #2 (1-Sec)……….64 WNW  @  11:31 P.M.
DAVIS #1……………….62 S    @  07:56 A.M.
DAVIS #2 ………………65 S    @  06:49 A.M.
RMY #1 (Instantaneous)…..64 WNW  @  11:35 P.M.
RMY #2 (Instantaneous)…..67 WNW  @  11:34 P.M.
MERLIN…………………57 W
RICHARDS (C5C) (Inst)……65      @  11:35 P.M.

FASTEST MILE:
CONTACTING ANEMOMETER/OFFICIAL………………47 WNW  @  11:31 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE VECTOR #1 AVERAGE…………..40      @  10:53 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE VECTOR #2 AVERAGE…………..46      @  11:31 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #1 AVERAGE……………43 WNW  @  10:53 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #2 AVERAGE……………45 WNW  @  11:31 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RMY #1 AVERAGE……………..38 WNW  @  10:53 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RMY #2 AVERAGE……………..44 WNW  @  11:31 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RICHARDS (C5C) AVERAGE………41      @  10:53 P.M.

AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION:
CONTACTING/OFFICIAL……27.3 SSW [655 total miles] VECTOR #1…………….26.3
VECTOR #2…………….27.2
DAVIS #1……………..26.3 SSW
DAVIS #2……………..28.4 SSW
RMY #1……………….25.6 SSW
RMY #2……………….27.3 SSW
RICHARDS (C5C)………..25.2

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……..0.23 DEPARTURE…..+0.07
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH…………..1.32 DEPARTURE…..-2.68
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR (2024)…….10.55 DEPARTURE…..+2.06

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M…………..0.5 DEPARTURE……-0.1
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH………………..5.2 DEPARTURE…..-13.0
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON (2023-2024)……26.1 DEPARTURE…..-25.8

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PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN)/SUN(%)/PEAK GUST/VEC1/RMY GUST
PEAK GUST: F420C (Official)
VEC1: Vector #1 1-second gust
RMY:  R.M. Young #1 wind gust recording system (Instantaneous)
TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day)
….: Data not yet available, records not finalized
M:    Missing data

2/1   40/30/35/+9/0.00/0.0/012/02         25 SW  VEC1 24 SW  RMY 26
2/2   39/31/35/+9/0.03/T/000/00           23 N   VEC1 24 N   RMY 25
2/3   35/26/31/+5/0.00/0.0/338/56         26 N   VEC1 26 NNW RMY 28
2/4   39/20/30/+4/0.00/0.0/607/100        28 NNW VEC1 28 NNW RMY 27
2/5   39/22/31/+4/0.00/0.0/597/98         29 N   VEC1 29 N   RMY 30
2/6   35/26/31/+4/0.00/0.0/251/41         26 N   VEC1 26 N   RMY 26
2/7   39/26/33/+6/0.00/0.0/436/71         21 NE  VEC1 21 NE  RMY 24
2/8   44/29/37/+10/0.00/0.0/457/74        16 S   VEC1 16 S   RMY 16
2/9   47/30/39/+12/0.00/0.0/229/37        31 SSW VEC1 31 SSW RMY 31
2/10  58/35/47/+20/0.02/0.0/385/62        26 NW  VEC1 26 NW  RMY 30
2/11  45/34/40/+13/0.00/0.0/119/19        30 NW  VEC1 30 NW  RMY 31
2/12  47/29/38/+10/0.00/0.0/470/75        21 N   VEC1 20 N   RMY 20
2/13  35/25/30/+2/0.65/4.3/000/00         40 NNE VEC1 41 NNE RMY M
2/14  29/21/25/-3/0.00/0.0/562/89         53 NW  VEC1 53 NW  RMY 54
2/15  38/18/28/0/0.03/0.4/527/83          37 SW  VEC1 36 SW  RMY 37
2/16  37/26/32/+4/T/T/599/94              50 WNW VEC1 47 WNW RMY 51
2/17  33/21/27/-2/T/T/128/20              36 WNW VEC1 38 WNW RMY 38
2/18  35/17/26/-3/0.00/0.0/418/65         39 SW  VEC1 40 SW  RMY 41
2/19  36/21/29/0/0.00/0.0/639/99          29 WNW VEC1 29 WNW RMY 28
2/20  36/16/26/-3/0.00/0.0/648/100        22 N   VEC1 22 N   RMY 21
2/21  39/24/32/+3/0.00/0.0/553/85         23 ESE VEC1 23 ESE RMY 22
2/22  42/24/33/+3/T/0.0/589/90            26 SSW VEC1 26 SSW RMY 25
2/23  41/33/37/+7/0.07/0.0/000/00         25 SSW VEC1 26 SSW RMY 27
2/24  37/17/27/-3/0.00/0.0/217/33         28 NW  VEC1 29 NNW RMY 29
2/25  37/11/24/-6/0.00/0.0/649/98         26 SSW VEC1 26 NW  RMY 27
2/26  54/26/40/+9/0.00/0.0/439/66         31 SE  VEC1 32 SW  RMY 33
2/27  62/29/46/+15/0.13/0.0/434/65        42 S   VEC1 42 S   RMY 42
2/28  54/35/45/+14/0.33/T/000/00          62 WNW VEC1 61 WNW RMY 64

2/29 The low since midnight is 22F, the daily normal low is 23F

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FEBRUARY DAILY RECORDS TO DATE

2/27 MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 62F SETS A NEW DAILY RECORD,
BEATING THE OLD RECORD OF 61F SET IN 1976

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

LEAP YEAR:
RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 29
HIGH 63F IN 2016
LOW 4F IN 1992
PRECIP 0.64 INCHES IN 1968
SNOWFALL 3.5 INCHES IN 1968
PEAK GUST 60 MPH NE IN 1968

RECORDS FOR MARCH 1
HIGH 62 IN 1972
LOW -3 IN 1886
PRECIP 1.65 INS. IN 1900
SNOWFALL 9.4 INS. IN 1949
PEAK GUST 78 WSW IN 1966

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Matt Douglas