Tuesday, March 18, 2014

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

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2014
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

ANOTHER CHILLY START TO THE DAY WITH TEMPERATURES
REBOUNDING TO NEAR FREEZING MARK BY MID DAY WITH
ABUNDANT SUNSHINE AND EXCELLENT VISIBILITY.

Plenty of sunshine could be found today following
yesterday’s overcast start. Yesterday’s 24-hr minimum of
13F was reinforced today with an overnight low of 16F. Morning
lows for this time of the year are normally in the upper 20s,
compared with yesterday’s daily average of 22. These readings
represent a significantly colder departure than the norm.
Through the first 17 days of March we are averaging 4 degrees
colder than normal temperatures per day.

Precipitation has certainly been lacking as well, following an above
average January and February. With more than half of March gone by, a
precipitation deficit of 2.25 inches of liquid has now brought the total
precipitation departure for this year down to -0.58 inches below the norm.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Mostly sunny, few stratocumulus offshore E-SSE,
few cirrus fibratus distant NNW-SSW
Temperature: 19F; Dew Point: 5F; Wind: N at 9 kts,
Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr max temp: 20F
6-hr min temp: 16F
24-hr. precip: none
Snow depth: trace
BHO SA 1155 CLR 80 252/19/5/3509/027/ FEW SC OFFSHR E-SSE FEW CI DSNT
NNW-SSW/ 8/501 53018 10020 20016

10 A.M.
Weather: Mostly sunny, few stratocumulus offshore E-SSE,
few cirrus fibratus distant E-SSW
Temperature: 30F Dew Point: 16F; Wind: NE at 8 kts,
Wind Direction: Varying from N-E
Sea-level pressure: 30.33 ins. Hg, increasing then decreasing,
but still higher
Visibility: 70 miles
BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 272/30/16/0408/033/
FEW SC OFFSHR E-SSE FEW CI DSNT E-SSW WND 36V10/ 8/501 50020

1 P.M.
Weather: Mostly sunny, few altocumulus distant NW,
few cirrostratus ESE-SSW
Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 17F; Wind: ENE at 7 kts,
Wind Direction: Varying ESE-SSW
Sea-level pressure: 30.32 ins. Hg, falling then more slowly
Visibility: 70 miles
6-hr max temp: 34F
6-hr min temp: 19F
BHO SA 1755 CLR 70 269/32/17/0607/032/
FEW AC DSNT NW FEW CS ESE-SSW WND 02V10/ 8/035 56003 10034 20019

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..30    NORMAL…..44
MIN…..13    NORMAL…..27
MEAN….22    NORMAL…..36

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL……………………-14
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH……………………-68 [-4.2 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..43  DEPARTURE………+14
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….608  DEPARTURE………+68
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..5199  DEPARTURE………+91
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……4631  DIFFERENCE…….+568

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY………………25 N    AT   4:17 A.M. *
AERO…………………..26 N    AT   4:15 A.M.
ASOS…………………..26 NNW  AT   4:17 A.M.
DAVIS………………….24 N    AT   4:14 A.M. RMY 19
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………. 21 N    AT   4:18 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………..21 NNW  AT   4:17 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE…………….18 NNW  AT   4:17 A.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION…………7.4 N
ASOS…………………7.6
DAVIS………………..6.6 N [349 deg.] * the last of several occurrences….

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.00  DEPARTURE………….-0.18
ASOS…………..0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….0.70  DEPARTURE………….-2.25
ASOS…………..0.70
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….10.79  DEPARTURE………….-0.58
ASOS………….11.24

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M……..  0.0  DEPARTURE…………..-0.4
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH…………….2.5  DEPARTURE…………..-5.6
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON…………..84.3  DEPARTURE………….+29.2

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/…./…/…/..         29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY 30
3/13 33/12/23/-11/…./…/…/..         43 NW  AERO 45 MPH NW  RMY 45
3/14 37/10/24/-11/0.00/0.0/…/..         39 SSW AERO 41 MPH SSW RMY 42
3/15 54/35/45/+10/0.02/0.0/…/..         50 WNW AERO 58 MPH WNW RMY 54
3/16 34/21/28/-7/0.00/0.0/…/..          36 W   AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 37
3/17 30/13/22/-14/0.00/0.0/…/..         25 N   AERO 26 MPH N   RMY 19

3/18 morning low temp: 16F; the normal low is now 27F

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 18
HIGH 72 IN 2012
LOW 0 IN 1885
PRECIP 5.61 INS. IN 1968 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 9.3 INS. IN 1985
PEAK GUST 71e MPH WNW IN 1941

RECORDS FOR MARCH 19
HIGH 77 IN 2012
LOW -2 IN 1967
PRECIP 1.69 INS. IN 1956
SNOWFALL 17.6 INS. IN 1956 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PEAK GUST 75e MPH WNW IN 1941

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald