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. ————————————————————– 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 ————————————————————– 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 ————————————————————– 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 ————————————————————– 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 ————————————————————– 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