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BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
IMPROVEMENT HARD TO COME BY AS WE HEAD INTO DAY 2 OF DREARY
CONDITIONS…
Early this morning at the base of Great Blue Hill,
visibility was approximately 5-10 miles. On our ascent up
the 635-foot summit, visibly suddenly closed in around
550 feet. At the top, visibility was 1/16 of a mile at
best. As the morning progressed, the ceiling lifted just a
little allowing us to see the waters of Boston Harbor and
the western hills in our nearest vicinity. However, as the
1 PM observation approached, the ceiling lowered and we
were once again socked in clouds and light rain.
Temperatures responded briefly to some thinning/brighter
overcast around late morning notching 74 degrees before
the clouds and light rain returned. Temperatures have thus
slipped into the upper-60s. Our sun card has yet to record any
minutes of sunshine since Tuesday afternoon!
Overnight rainfall coupled with yesterday’s measurements
yielded 0.19 inches for our 24-hour total. Despite this,
we are still running an annual precipitation deficit of
-2.24 inches. Most other locations throughout the state
are seeing more substantial deficients thanks in large
part to a lack of widespread rain events. Rainfall
this summer has been very convective and localized in
nature. The current annual deficit at Bedford is -10.72
inches, Boston is -7.00 inches, and Worcester is -5.37
inches. A ‘lucky’ 12% of the state is “abnormally” dry, yet a
whopping 52% is in a “moderate” drought, and 35% is in
a “severe” drought (the state drought monitor is updated
every Thursday).
The highest wind gust so far today has been 23 mph from the
south occurring just after midnight. 5 MPH has been the
average speed thus far.
The high so far today is 74F, 2 degrees below the daily
normal max of 76F. The low since midnight is 70F, which is
11 degrees above the normal low of 59F.
Today’s Observations:
7 A.M.
Weather: Vertical Visibility 200 ft, Sky Obscured
Temperature: 72F; Dew Point: 72F; Relative Humidity: 100%
Wind: SSW at 6 kts (wind light)
Sea-level pressure: 29.81 ins. Hg: rising then more rapidly
Visibility: 1/16 mile, fog
6-hr Max temp: 72F
6-hr Min temp: 70F
24-hr Precip: 0.19 ins.
BHO SA 1155 X W2 1/16F 095/72/72/2006/981/ WND LGT/ 8////
53008 70019 10072 20070
10 A.M.
Weather: Overcast Stratus (few stratus fractus distant SW-W)
Temperature: 72F; Dew Point: 70F; Relative Humidity: 93%
Wind: NNW at 7 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.82 ins. Hg: rising then falling
Visibility: 20 miles, thin fog
3-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
BHO SA 1455 E15 OVC 20 097/72/70/3407/982/ FEW SF DSNT SW-W
THN F ALQDS/ 8/6// 50002
1 P.M.
Weather: Light rain (beginning @ 12:10 P.M.), Vertical Visibility
300 ft, Sky Obscured
Temperature: 69F; Dew Point: 69F; Relative Humidity: 100%
Wind: NNE at 5 kts (wind light)
Sea-level pressure: 29.81 ins. Hg: falling then rising
Visibility: 1/8 mile, fog
6-hr Max temp: 74F
6-hr Min temp: 69F
6-hr Precip: 0.02 ins.
BHO SA 1755 X W3 1/8R-F 094/69/69/0305/981/ R-B10 WND LGT/
8/// 55003 60002 10074 20069
SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..69 NORMAL…..76
MIN…..59 NORMAL…..59
MEAN….64 NORMAL…..68
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL……………. -4
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………. -4 [-2.2 DEGREES/DAY]
COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY………… 0 DEPARTURE……-4
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………… 3 DEPARTURE……-5
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..760 DEPARTURE….+215
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……623 DEPARTURE….+137
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………..23 SSE AT 2:15 P.M.
AERO…………………….23 SSE AT 1:24 P.M.
ASOS…………………….22 SSE AT 1:25 P.M.
DAVIS……………………25 S AT 1:09 P.M.
RMY 24 MERLIN 22
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………….16 SSW AT 10:58 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………….16 SSW AT 10:58 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE………………17 SSE AT 1:43 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………..11.7 SSE
ASOS…………………..11.1
DAVIS………………….11.8 SSE [161 deg.]
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.19 DEPARTURE….+0.07
ASOS…………..0.20
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….0.19 DEPARTURE….-0.03
ASOS…………..0.20
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….33.00 DEPARTURE….-2.24
ASOS………….33.78
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR AUGUST CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/PEAK GUST/AERO/RMY 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
M: Missing data
08/01 87/66/77/+5/0.00/866/100 18 S AERO 21 S RMY 19
08/02 85/69/77/+5/0.02/320/37 36 S AERO 37 S RMY 38
08/03 91/75/83/+11/0.00/715/83 36 WSW AERO 38 SW RMY 36
08/04 83/71/77/+5/0.21/094/11 67 SSE AERO 71 S RMY 70
08/05 90/68/79/+7/0.00/668/78 28 SW AERO 30 SW RMY 29
08/06 84/65/75/+3/0.00/701/82 20 W AERO 17 W RMY 19
08/07 79/65/72/0/T/136/16 16 NE AERO 16 NE RMY N/A
08/08 83/64/74/+2/0.00/612/72 20 S AERO 20 S RMY 19
08/09 90/65/78/+6/0.00/661/78 26 SSW AERO 26 SSW RMY 26
08/10 94/69/82/+11/0.00/727/86 22 W AERO 20 W RMY 20
08/11 92/72/82/+11/0.00/708/84 31 SSW AERO 35 SSW RMY 31 TSTM
08/12 93/74/84/+13/0.00/647/77 22 SSW AERO 22 SW RMY 19
08/13 88/71/80/+9/0.00/528/63 18 ENE AERO 18 NE RMY 18
08/14 82/67/75/+4/0.00/618/74 23 ENE AERO 23 ENE RMY N/A
08/15 67/62/65/-6/T/000/00 33 NNE AERO 32 NNE RMY N/A
08/16 69/62/66/-5/…./000/00 26 ENE AERO 28 ENE RMY 26
08/17 73/59/66/-5/…./339/41 25 NE AERO 24 NE RMY N/A
08/18 84/63/74/+3/…./784/95 23 W AERO 23 W RMY 24
08/19 81/59/70/0/0.03/526/64 26 W AERO 28 W RMY 27
08/20 80/56/68/-2/0.00/804/98 22 W AERO 21 W RMY 22
08/21 88/61/75/+5/0.00/719/88 28 SW AERO 26 SW RMY 28
08/22 85/66/76/+6/0.26/521/64 18 NNE AERO 16 S RMY 16
08/23 89/63/76/+6/2.21/552/68 60 WNW AERO 53 WNW RMY 58 TSTM HAIL
08/24 87/67/77/+7/0.00/493/61 18 S AERO 18 S RMY 19 TSTM
08/25 86/65/76/+7/0.01/492/61 35 NNW AERO 37 NNW RMY 35
08/26 74/56/65/-4/0.00/780/97 29 NW AERO 32 NW RMY N/A
08/27 68/57/63/-6/0.33/008/01 18 SSE AERO 20 SSE RMY 20 TSTM
08/28 80/59/70/+1/0.00/559/70 20 W AERO 20 W RMY N/A
08/29 74/65/70/+1/0.06/000/00 32 W AERO 32 W RMY N/A
08/30 75/57/66/-2/0.00/793/100 36 W AERO 36 W RMY N/A
08/31 75/54/65/-3/0.00/569/72 20 S AERO 20 S RMY 20
DAILY RECORDS FOR AUGUST 2020
8/23/20: DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 89F,
BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD of 88F SET IN 1918, 1947, 1949, 1996
8/23/20: DAILY RECORD PRECIPITATION OF 2.21 INS,
BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 2.09 INS SET IN 2010
8/23/20: DAILY RECORD PEAK WIND GUST OF 60 MPH,
TIES PREVIOUS RECORD OF 60 MPH SET IN 1940
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/PEAK GUST/AERO/RMY 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
M: Missing data
09/01 76/59/68/0/0.00/…/.. 22 SSE AERO 21 SE RMY 20
09/02 69/59/64/-4/…/…/.. 23 SSE AERO 23 SSE RMY 24
09/03 The low since midnight iS 70F, the daily normal low is 59F
DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):
RECORDS FOR SEPTEMBER 3
HIGH 95F IN 1929
LOW 43F IN 1983
PRECIP 3.82 INCHES IN 1972 (TROPICAL STORM CARRIE)
PEAK GUST 58 MPH NNE IN 1972 (TROPICAL STORM CARRIE)
RECORDS FOR SEPTEMBER 4
HIGH 90F IN 1953, 1973
LOW 46F IN 1987
PRECIP 3.22 INCHES IN 1922
PEAK GUST 47 MPH SE IN 1966
TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Andrew Swanson
