Tuesday, April 6, 2021

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

TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
SUNRISE: 0518E
SUNSET:  1816E

CLOUDS BREAKING, LESS WIND AND A BIT MILDER TODAY….

An ocean storm continues to spin south of Nova Scotia
sending a spoke of clouds across eastern Massachusetts. As
drier air tries to work in aloft however, clouds have been
breaking up allowing for a fair amount of sunshine as we
move through the early afternoon hours.

The wind, which is considerably less gusty than yesterday
continues to blow out of the north-northwest occasionally
gusting to around 20 mph.

Visibility has once again been spectacular hanging out at
around 80 miles all day!

The high today so far today is 61F, this is 9 degrees above
the normal high of 52F. The low since midnight is 40F, which
is 6 degrees above the daily normal low of 34F.

As many are aware, March tends to be a rather cloudy month
here in coastal Southern New England, however March 2021
was tied for the sunniest March on our record going back to
1886. We recorded 243.0 hours of sunshine this March, tying
with March 1915 for sunniest! Here is the current ranking
via our Chief Scientist Mike Iacono…

BHO Sunniest March, hours (1886-2021):

1) 243.0 in 1915  [68%]   243.0 in 2021  [68%]3) 236.7 in 1946  [66%]4) 230.1 in 1978  [64%]5) 215.0 in 2006  [60%]

PRELIMINARY STATS FOR MARCH 2021

TEMPERATURE, Deg. F
Avg. Max. 50.2 [+5.9]Avg. Min. 29.1 [+2.5]Mean      39.7 [+4.2]24-hour corrected mean: 39.2
Max. for month: 71F on the 11th
Min. for month: 10F on the 2nd

HEATING DEGREE DAYS
Total heating units:    777 [-139]Total for the season:  4822 [-662]Total for last season: 5484

PRECIPITATION, Inches
Total: 2.17 [-3.41]Greatest in 24 hrs: 0.80 ins. on the 18th and 28th

SNOWFALL, Inches
Total: 0.2 [-12.5]Greatest in 24 hrs: 0.1 ins. on the 2nd and 14th

WIND, mph
Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 13.8 mph
Avg. corrected wind speed:   14.2 mph
Prevailing wind direction:   WNW [22%]Peak gust and direction:     69 WNW on the 1st

SUNSHINE:
Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 14580 out of 21516 or 68%
Astronomical total minutes: 15099 out of 22265 or 68%

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Broken altostratus, broken altocumulus, thin broken cirrus
Temperature: 42F; Dew Point: 31F; Relative Humidity: 64%
Wind: NNW @ 10 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.90 in Hg, rising, then more rapidly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 44F
6-hr Min temp: 40F
24-hr Precip: Trace
24-hr Snow: Trace
Snow Depth: 0 ins.
BHO SA 1155 E55 BKN 95 BKN 250 -BKN 80 124/42/31/3310/990/
TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS TRACE/ 8/071 53017 70000 10044 20040

10 A.M.
Weather: Broken altocumulus standing lenticularis,
broken altocumulus, thin broken cirrus
Temperature: 54F; Dew Point: 34F; Relative Humidity: 46%
Wind: NNW @ 7G16 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.91 in Hg; rising, then steady
Visibility: 80 miles
3-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
3-hr Snow: 0.0 ins.
BHO SA 1455 E40 BKN 100 BKN 250 -BKN 80 129/54/34/3407G16/991/
8/041 51005

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus/altocumulus
lenticularis, broken cirrus
Temperature: 60F, Dew point: 34F; Relative Humidity: 37%
Wind: NNW @ 7 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.86 in Hg; falling, then more rapidly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 61F
6-hr Min temp: 42F
6-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
6-hr Snow: 0.0 ins.
Snow Depth: 0 ins.
BHO SA 1755 45 SCT 100 SCT 250 BKN 80 112/60/34/3407/986/
8/542 58017 10061 20042

SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2021

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…….57     NORMAL…..51
MIN…….41     NORMAL…..33
MEAN……49     NORMAL…..43

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR (1981-2010) NORMAL…… +6
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………… -4 [-1.0 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY……………16  DEPARTURE…….-6
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………..120  DEPARTURE…….+4
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON…………4942  DEPARTURE…..-658
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE…….4995  DEPARTURE……-53

PEAK WIND GUST (MPH):
                     420C/Official…………..41 NW  @ 11:27 A.M.
                     AEROVANE (south tower)…..48 NW  @ 11:24 A.M.
                     ASOS…………………..42 NW  @ 11:27 A.M.
                     DAVIS #1……………….41 NW  @ 11:27 A.M.
                     DAVIS #2 (south tower)…..43 NNW @ 11:25 A.M.
                     RMY……………………50     @ 11:24 A.M.
                     VECTOR…………………48     @  4:44 P.M.
                     MERLIN…………………43

FASTEST MILE:
CONTACTING ANEMOMETER/OFFICIAL………………31 NW  @ 11:26 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………….29 NW  @ 11:28 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #1 AVERAGE……………31 NW  @ 11:27 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #2 AVERAGE……………31 N   @ 11:51 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RMY AVERAGE………………..28 NNW @ 11:25 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE VECTOR AVERAGE……………..29     @ 11:23 A.M.

AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION:
                     CONTACTING/OFFICIAL…….17.6 NNW [423 total miles]                     ASOS………………….16.5  
                     DAVIS #1………………17.3 NNW  
                     DAVIS #2………………17.2 NNW
                     RMY…………………..16.1 NNW
                     VECTOR………………..16.9

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……TRACE  DEPARTURE….-0.17
                             ASOS………….0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH………….0.89  DEPARTURE….+0.04
                             ASOS………….0.87
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR………….11.06  DEPARTURE….-3.78
                              ASOS………..11.38

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HOURS ENDING 7 A.M………TRACE  DEPARTURE…. -0.2
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH …………….TRACE  DEPARTURE…..-1.0
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON……………..72.6  DEPARTURE….+12.4

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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

03/01   42/24/33/+2/0.13/T/020/03        69 WNW  AERO 78 WNW  RMY 78
03/02   27/10/19/-12/T/0.1/679/100       63 WNW  AERO 71 WNW  RMY 69
03/03   45/19/32/0/0.00/0.0/375/55       30 W    AERO 30 W    RMY 34
03/04   38/22/30/-2/0.00/0.0/520/76      46 NW   AERO 51 NW   RMY 53
03/05   31/18/25/-7/0.00/0.0/556/81      39 WNW  AERO 44 NW   RMY 45
03/06   33/15/24/-8/0.00/0.0/675/98      28 WNW  AERO 29 WNW  RMY 30
03/07   35/15/25/-8/0.00/0.0/679/98      21 NW   AERO 22 NW   RMY 23
03/08   38/19/29/-4/T/T/653/94           20 NW   AERO 20 NW   RMY 21
03/09   56/30/43/+10/T/T/628/90          32 WNW  AERO 35 WNW  RMY 37
03/10   54/32/43/+10/0.00/0.0/666/95     29 SSW  AERO 29 SSW  RMY 31
03/11   71/35/53/+19/0.00/0.0/218/31     41 SSW  AERO 43 SSW  RMY 46
03/12   62/42/52/+18/0.00/0.0/614/87     52 WNW  AERO 59 WNW  RMY 57
03/13   46/27/37/+3/0.00/0.0/696/98      53 WNW  AERO 59 WNW  RMY 57
03/14   45/19/32/-3/0.01/0.1/449/63      51 WNW  AERO 58 NW   RMY 58
03/15   27/12/20/-15/0.00/0.0/694/97     48 NW   AERO 47 NW   RMY 54
03/16   37/13/25/-10/0.00/0.0/352/49     22 NNW  AERO 22 NNW  RMY 23
03/17   52/27/40/+4/0.00/0.0/483/67      28 S    AERO 25 S    RMY 29
03/18   46/34/40/+4/0.80/T/000/00        38 NE   AERO 40 NE   RMY 42
03/19   39/26/33/-3/T/T/683/94           37 N    AERO 38 N    RMY 41
03/20   58/24/41/+4/0.00/0.0/701/96      23 W    AERO 23 W    RMY 27
03/21   62/39/51/+14/0.00/0.0/704/96     22 S    AERO 23 S    RMY 25
03/22   62/36/49/+12/0.00/0.0/698/95     21 S    AERO 18 S    RMY 22
03/23   65/38/52/+14/0.00/0.0/568/77     22 ESE  AERO 18 SE   RMY 21
03/24   63/44/54/+16/0.01/0.0/163/22     22 SSE  AERO 21 SSE  RMY 21
03/25   67/49/58/+20/0.10/0.0/201/27     25 S    AERO 26 S    RMY 26
03/26   63/48/56/+17/0.01/0.0/127/17     58 W    AERO 67 W    RMY 63
03/27   63/40/52/+13/0.00/0.0/608/81     39 WNW  AERO 41 WNW  RMY 44
03/28   56/37/47/+8/0.80/0.0/000/00      40 S    AERO 41 S    RMY 46
03/29   50/35/43/+3/T/0.0/718/95         58 WNW  AERO 62 WNW  RMY 63
03/30   58/31/45/+5/0.00/0.0/720/95      36 S    AERO 36 S    RMY 37
03/31   66/43/55/+14/0.31/0.0/251/33     41 SSW  AERO 45 S    RMY 44

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR APRIL CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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

04/01   56/30/43/+2/0.89/T/…/..        44 NW   AERO 51 NW   RMY 49
04/02   37/24/31/-10/0.00/0.0/…/..     28 NW   AERO 32 NNW  RMY 30
04/03   48/23/36/-6/0.00/0.0/…/..      24 NW   AERO 25 NW   RMY 26
04/04   58/33/46/+4/0.00/0.0/…/..      38 NNW  AERO 41 NNW  RMY 41
04/05   57/41/49/+6/T/T/…/..           41 NNW  AERO 48 NNW  RMY 50

04/06   The low since midnight is 40F, the daily normal low is 34F

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

RECORDS FOR APRIL 6
HIGH 82 IN 1921
LOW 16 IN 1982
PRE 1.72 INS IN 1886
SNOW 12.3 INS IN 1982
WIND 71e MPH WNW IN 1940

RECORDS FOR APRIL 7
HIGH 90 IN 2010
LOW 13 IN 1982
PRECIP 1.72 IN. IN 1924
SNOWFALL 4.5 IN. IN 1967, 1996
PEAK GUST 65 MPH WNW IN 1982

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Matt Douglas