Tuesday, March 2, 2021

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

TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
SUNRISE: 0617E
SUNSET:  1736E

AN ARCTIC BLAST BRINGING VERY COLD TEMPS AND STRONG WINDS….

An arctic cold front passed through the region last evening
bringing with it snow showers to the hill. We actually picked
up 0.1″ of snow overnight.

Following the front, very strong cold air advection took
place bringing strong wind gusts, which peaked at 69 mph at
around 11:30 last night. To go along with the strong winds,
temperatures fell pretty sharply as well, from 34 degrees at
7 P.M. last evening to 10 degrees just before 7 A.M. this
morning!

Despite clear skies and abundant sunshine today, temperatures
have labored to finally reach the low 20s by early this
afternoon. Considering we’re in early March with a much higher
sun angle now, we can really get a sense of how strong the cold
air advection is today.

Winds continue gusty today with frequent gusts to and over 50mph.
The peak gust so far today is 62 mph occurring at 11:23 A.M.

The high so far today, which occured back at midnight, is 24F,
16 degrees below the daily average max of 40F. The low since
midnight is 10F, 12 degrees below the daily average low of 22F.

Today’s Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant all quadrants
Temperature: 11F; Dew Point: -6F; Relative Humidity: 46%
Wind: WNW @ 23G31 kts, peak wind WNW 47 mph at 6:09 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.88 in Hg; rising, then more slowly
Visibility: 70 miles
6-hr Max temp: 20F
6-hr Min temp: 10F
24-hr Precip: 0.02 ins.
24-hr Snow: 0.1 ins.
Snow Depth: 3 ins.
BHO SA 1155 CLR 70 118/11/-6/2923G31/988/ FEW SC DSNT ALQDS
PK WND 2941/09/ TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.1 INS/ 8/500 4/003
51027 6000/ 70002 10020 20010

10 A.M.
Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus offshore distant NNE-SE,
few cirrus distant N-NNE
Temperature: 16F; Dew Point: -5F; Relative Humidity: 39%
Wind: WNW @ 30G48 kts, peak wind WNW 55 mph at 9:45 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.90 in Hg; rising unsteadily
Visibility: 70 miles
3-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
3-hr Snow: 0.0 ins.
BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 125/16/-5/2930G48/990/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT
NNE-SE FEW CI DSNT N-NNE PK WND 2948/45/ 8/501 52007

1 P.M.
Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus offshore distant NE-E,
few cirrus distant NE-E
Temperature: 23F, Dew point: -2F; Relative Humidity: 33%
Wind: WNW @ 26G39 kts, peak wind WNW 50 mph at 12:29 P.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.87 in Hg; falling, then more rapidly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 23F
6-hr Min temp: 11F
6-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
6-hr Snow: 0.0 ins.
Snow Depth: 3 ins.
BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 116/23/-2/3026G39/987/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-E
FEW CI DSNT NE-E PK WND 3043/29/ 8/501 4/003 58009 10023 20011

SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…….42   NORMAL…..40
MIN…….24   NORMAL…..22
MEAN……33   NORMAL…..31

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR (1981-2010) NORMAL……. +2
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH………………. +2 [+1.8 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY……………32  DEPARTURE…… -2
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….. 32  DEPARTURE…… -2
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON…………4077  DEPARTURE…..-525
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE…….4181  DEPARTURE…..-104

PEAK WIND GUST (MPH):
420C/Official…………..69 WNW @ 11:32 P.M.
AEROVANE (south tower)…..78 WNW @ 11:28 P.M.
ASOS…………………..69 W   @ 11:25 P.M.
DAVIS #1……………….67 W   @ 11:29 P.M.
DAVIS #2 (south tower)…..70 NW  @ 11:29 P.M.
RMY……………………78     @ 11:31 P.M.
VECTOR…………………79     @ 11:31 P.M.
MERLIN…………………68

FASTEST MILE:
CONTACTING ANEMOMETER/OFFICIAL………………53 WNW @ 11:29 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………….43 WNW @ 11:30 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #1 AVERAGE……………49 WNW @ 11:36 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS #2 AVERAGE……………52 WNW @ 11:36 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE RMY AVERAGE………………..43 NW  @ 11:30 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE VECTOR AVERAGE……………..45     @ 11:33 P.M.

AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION:
CONTACTING/OFFICIAL……17.9 WNW [429 total miles] ASOS…………………17.3
DAVIS #1……………..18.0 WNW
DAVIS #2……………..18.5 WNW
RMY………………….16.4 W
VECTOR……………….17.4

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M…….0.02  DEPARTURE….-0.15
ASOS………….0.05
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH………….0.13  DEPARTURE….-0.21
ASOS………….0.16
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR…………..8.13  DEPARTURE….-0.63
ASOS…………8.42

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST):
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HOURS ENDING 7 A.M………..0.1  DEPARTURE…. -0.4
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH……………… 0.1  DEPARTURE…. -0.9
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON……………..72.5  DEPARTURE….+25.0

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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

02/01   32/21/27/+1/1.86/12.7/000/00      53 NE   AERO 65 NE   RMY 62
02/02   34/29/32/+6/0.91/1.6/000/00       52 NNE  AERO 55 NE   RMY 58
02/03   34/26/30/+4/0.01/0.2/036/06       20 NW   AERO 20 NW   RMY 22
02/04   37/26/32/+6/0.02/0.7/158/26       23 NW   AERO 22 NW   RMY M
02/05   39/26/33/+7/0.01/T/000/00         33 S    AERO 32 S    RMY 30
02/06   40/28/34/+8/0.00/0.0/595/97       42 WSW  AERO 41 WSW  RMY 47
02/07   35/25/30/+3/0.71/11.6/000/00      27 WNW  AERO 28 WNW  RMY 30
02/08   27/13/20/-7/0.00/0.0/619/100      29 NW   AERO 31 WNW  RMY 32
02/09   27/18/23/-4/0.17/2.2/000/00       16 N    AERO 16 N    RMY 17
02/10   31/15/23/-4/0.00/0.0/436/70       26 WNW  AERO 25 WNW  RMY 28
02/11   31/15/23/-4/0.00/0.0/526/84       28 NW   AERO 26 NW   RMY 31
02/12   25/8/17/-10/0.00/0.0/421/67       32 NW   AERO 35 NW   RMY 36
02/13   27/15/21/-7/0.00/0.0/252/40       20 NNW  AERO 20 NNW  RMY 23
02/14   34/24/29/+1/0.00/0.0/000/00       19 ENE  AERO 16 ENE  RMY 19
02/15   31/27/29/+1/0.11/0.0/000/00       21 NNE  AERO 21 NNE  RMY 22
02/16   44/29/37/+9/0.63/0.0/000/00       39 W    AERO 41 W    RMY 43
02/17   30/19/25/-3/0.00/0.0/552/86       40 W    AERO 41 WNW  RMY 40
02/18   29/21/25/-4/0.13/1.7/000/00       24 ENE  AERO 24 ENE  RMY 25
02/19   30/24/27/-2/0.66/7.7/000/00       24 NE   AERO 23 NE   RMY 24
02/20   32/19/26/-3/0.02/0.5/156/24       32 NW   AERO 35 NW   RMY 38
02/21   33/15/24/-5/0.00/0.0/653/100      27 NW   AERO 28 NW   RMY 29
02/22   40/21/31/+2/0.22/T/020/03         41 S    AERO 41 SSE  RMY 44
02/23   43/31/37/+7/0.00/0.0/…/..       31 WNW  AERO 31 WNW  RMY 32
02/24   49/34/42/+12/0.00/0.0/…/..      39 SSW  AERO 39 SSW  RMY 42
02/25   43/28/30/+6/0.00/0.0/…/..       50 WNW  AERO 55 WNW  RMY 57
02/26   40/22/31/+1/0.00/0.0/…/..       22 WNW  AERO 22 WNW  RMY 21
02/27   47/29/38/+7/0.21/0.1/…/..       40 SSE  AERO 41 SSE  RMY 44
02/28   41/33/37/+6/0.01/0.0/…/..       24 NW   AERO 22 NW   RMY 25

DAILY RECORDS

02/01 -RECORD SNOWFALL OF 12.7 INS, BREAKING PREVIOUS RECORD
OF 11.0 INS SET IN 1898
02/01 -RECORD PRECIPITATION OF 1.86 INS, BREAKING PREVIOUS
RECORD OF 1.30 INS SET IN 1898

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/…/..        69 WNW   AERO 78 WNW  RMY 78

03/02 The low since midnight is 10F, the daily normal low is 22F

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

RECORDS FOR MARCH 2
HIGH 63 IN 2004
LOW -3 IN 1886
PRE 3.47 INS. IN 2018
SNOW 8.2 INS. IN 2009
WIND 75 MPH NW IN 1966

RECORDS FOR MARCH 3
HIGH 64 IN 1991, 2020
LOW -1 IN 1950
PRECIP 2.36 INS. IN 1972
SNOWFALL 12.8 INS. IN 1960
PEAK GUST 78e MPH E IN 1942

TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Matt Douglas