Thursday, March 27, 2014

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

A CRISP, CLEAR DAY ON TOP OF GREAT BLUE HILL
FOLLOWING A NEAR MISS FROM YESTERDAY’S
POWERFUL OFFSHORE NOR’EASTER

It was a significantly windy day atop Great Blue Hill
on Wednesday as a rapidly deepening area of low pressure
moved along the Atlantic coast. An official maximum gust
of 54 MPH was recorded on three separate occasions yesterday
afternoon along with a fastest mile of 40, occurring just
after 4:00 PM EST.

Yesterday’s corrected average wind speed of 26.7 MPH marks
the highest average wind so far this year, and the highest
average daily wind speed since January 31, 2013, where winds
average 30 MPH for the day and gusted to a peak of 74 MPH.

Fast forward to today, and winds have been gradually decreasing
since midnight, along with colder-than-average temperatures to
start the day. This morning’s minimum of 17F is 13 degrees below
the 30 year daily average.

By 1:00 PM EST this afternoon cirrus and altocumulus were on
the increase after a nearly cloudless morning. Visibility
was decreasing only slightly to 80 miles, down from an
exceptionally clear 90 miles in all directions.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Clear, few cirrus fibratus distant S-WSW
Temperature: 21F; Dew Point: 2F; Wind: WNW at 16G25 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.29 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly
Visibility: 90 miles, exceptionally clear visibility
6-hr max temp: 21F
6-hr min temp: 17F
24-hour precip: trace
24-hour snowfall: trace
Snow depth: Trace
BHO SA 1155 CLR 90 258/21/2/3016G25/029/ FEW CI DSNT S-WSW
NEW SNW PST 24 HRS TRACE/ 8/001 51036 10021 20017

10 A.M.
Weather: Clear, few cirrus fibratus SSE-WSW
Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 6F; Wind: NW at 11G25 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.31 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly
Visibility: 90 miles, exceptionally clear visibility
BHO SA 1455 CLR 90 265/30/6/3111G25/031/ FEW CI SSE-WSW/
8/001 53007

1 P.M.
Weather: Clear, few altocumulus distant W,
few cirrus in all directions
Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 17F; Wind: W at 9G17 kts,
Wind: Direction variable SW to N
Sea-level pressure: 30.28 ins. Hg, steady then falling
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr max temp: 40F
6-hr min temp: 20F
BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 253/39/17/2709G17/028/ FEW AC DSNT W
FEW CI ALQDS WND 22V36/ 8/034 58012 10040 20020

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..32    NORMAL…..48
MIN…..20    NORMAL…..30
MEAN….26    NORMAL…..39

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL……………………-13
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH…………………..-115 [-4.6 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..39  DEPARTURE………+13
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….904  DEPARTURE……..+114
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..5495  DEPARTURE……..+138
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……4917  DIFFERENCE…….+578

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………54 NW   AT  1:05 P.M. *
AERO…………………..56 NW   AT  1:04 P.M. *
ASOS…………………..55 NW   AT  3:26 P.M.
DAVIS………………….55 NW   AT  3:20 P.M. RMY 55
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………..40 NW   AT  4:09 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..41 NW   AT  4:10 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….38 NW   AT  4:09 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………… 26.7 NW
ASOS………………….24.8
DAVIS…………………21.8 NNW  [336 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………….-3.68
ASOS…………..1.01
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….11.09  DEPARTURE………….-2.01
ASOS………….11.55

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……..trace  DEPARTURE…………..-0.3
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….2.6  DEPARTURE…………..-8.7
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..84.4  DEPARTURE………….+26.1

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/T/0.0/428/59             24 E   AERO 23 MPH E   RMY 26
3/20 51/35/43/+6/0.30/0.0/190/26          36 W   AERO 37 MPH W   RMY 39
3/21 42/29/36/-1/0.00/0.0/242/33          40 W   AERO 41 MPH W   RMY 42
3/22 55/26/41/+4/T/0.0/404/55             52 WNW AERO 52 MPH WNW RMY 53
3/23 43/20/32/-6/0.00/0.0/…/..          32 NNW AERO 32 MPH NNW RMY N/A
3/24 32/13/23/-15/0.00/0.0/…/..         37 N   AERO 36 MPH N   RMY 36
3/25 38/17/28/-10/0.00/0.0/…/..         25 SSW AERO 22 MPH SSW RMY N/A
3/26 32/20/26/-13/T/0.1/…/..            54 NW  AERO 56 MPH NW  RMY 55

3/27 morning low temp: 17F; the normal low is now 30F

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 27
HIGH 78 IN 1998
LOW 12 IN 1975
PRECIP 1.05 INS. IN 1913
SNOWFALL 6.6 INS. IN 1959
PEAK GUST 62 MPH NW IN 1965, SE IN 1992

RECORDS FOR MARCH 28
HIGH 86 IN 1998
LOW 7 IN 1923
PRECIP 2.31 INS. IN 1932
SNOWFALL 3.0 INS. IN 1932
PEAK GUST 60e MPH NW IN 1944, 60 WSW IN 1991

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald