Wednesday, October 7, 2020
BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2020
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
AN EXCITING AFTERNOON ATOP GREAT BLUE HILL….
Today started with partly cloudy skies and a limited
visibility of only 30 miles due to haze. Pressure
dropped very rapidly, decreasing by more than 10 millibars
over the span of 6 hours. This led to overcast skies, and
then some strong thunderstorms with the approaching cold
front. Heavy rainfall and high winds lasted for about
5 minutes, leaving us with a 10th inch in the gauge. This
was accompanied by pea-sized hail, frequent lightning, and
very strong wind; gusting to 76 mph for the max. This breaks
the record of 54 mph from the west, set in 2009.
What else is staggering is the precipitation deficit, which is
0.87 ins. under for the month and 5.52 ins. under for the
year to date.
The drought monitor was updated on Thursday revealing yet
another escalation. 55% of MA now in a “severe drought”
and 29% considered in an “extreme drought” (approximately
Boston to Providence and points south and east).
-Drought section written by Andrew Swanson
The high so far today is 74F, 10 degrees above the daily
normal of 64F. The low since midnight is 51F, which is
4 degrees above the normal low of 47F.
PRELIMINARY STATS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020
TEMPERATURE, Deg. F
Avg. Max. 73.2 [+1.6]
Avg. Min. 54.9 [+0.3]
Mean 64.1 [+1.0]
24-hour corrected mean: 63.6
Max. for month: 82F on the 8th
Min. for month: 39F on the 22nd
HEATING DEGREE DAYS
Total heating units: 95 [-22]
Total for the season: 98 [-44]
Total for last season: 93
COOLING DEGREE DAYS
Total cooling units: 73 [+13]
Total for the season: 830 [+233]
Total for last season: 680
PRECIPITATION, Inches
Total: 1.61 [-2.45]
Greatest in 24 hrs: 1.02 ins. on 29th-30th
WIND, mph
Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 10.6 mph
Avg. corrected wind speed: 11.1 mph
Prevailing wind direction: S [20%]
Peak gust and direction: 71 S on the 30th
SUNSHINE:
Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 12150 minutes of a possible 21582 or 56%
Astronomical total minutes: 12593 minutes of a possible 22403 or 56%
Today’s Observations:
7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, broken cirrostratus
Temperature: 55F; Dew Point: 54F; Relative Humidity: 96%
Wind: SSW at 12 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.78 ins. Hg: falling steadily
Visibility: 35 miles, thin fog
6-hr Max temp: 55F
6-hr Min temp: 54F
24-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
BHO SA 1155 100 SCT 220 BKN 35 081/55/54/2112/978/ THN FG
ALQDS/ 8/031 56012 10055 20054
10 A.M.
Weather: Broken cirrus
Temperature: 67F; Dew Point: 54F; Relative Humidity: 63%
Wind: SSW at 11 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.69 ins. Hg: falling rapidly
Visibility: 35 miles
3-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
BHO SA 1455 220 BKN 35 048/67/54/2011/969/ 8/001 58033
1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, overcast cirrostratus
Temperature: 70F; Dew Point: 50F; Relative Humidity: 49%
Wind: SW at 15G30 kts, peak wind of 35 mph at 12:42 P.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.59 ins. Hg: falling rapidly
Visibility: 30 miles, hazy
6-hr Max temp: 74F
6-hr Min temp: 55F
6-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.
BHO SA 1755 55 SCT 250 OVC 30 002/70/50/2415G30/959/ HAZY
PK WND 2530/42/ 8/808 56046 10074 20055
SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2020
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX…..69 NORMAL…..64
MIN…..51 NORMAL…..47
MEAN….60 NORMAL…..55
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL……………..+5
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH…………….+12 [+1.8 DEGREES/DAY]
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………..5 DEPARTURE….. -5
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH………….42 DEPARTURE…..-14
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..135 DEPARTURE…..-58
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……160 DEPARTURE…..-20
COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY…………. 0 DEPARTURE…… 0
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH…………. 1 DEPARTURE….. -1
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON………..831 DEPARTURE….+232
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE……680 DEPARTURE….+151
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY (MPH)
420C/Official…………….28 S AT 12:17 P.M.
AERO…………………….28 S AT 12:18 P.M.
ASOS…………………….28 SSW AT 12:21 P.M.
DAVIS……………………27 SSW AT 12:18 P.M.
RMY 29 MERLIN 29
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY………………….23 S AT 12:19 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE……………….22 S AT 12:20 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE………………22 SSW AT 12:20 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION………….12.3 S (296 total miles)
ASOS………………….12.5
DAVIS…………………11.4 SSW [196 deg.]
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M….0.00 DEPARTURE….-0.15
ASOS…………..0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH……….0.02 DEPARTURE….-0.87
ASOS…………..0.02
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR……….34.45 DEPARTURE….-5.52
ASOS………….35.23
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 76/59/68/0/0.00/698/88 22 SSE AERO 21 SE RMY 20
09/02 69/59/64/-4/0.18/102/13 23 SSE AERO 23 SSE RMY 24
09/03 75/66/71/+4/0.04/000/00 22 SSW AERO 21 SSW RMY N/A
09/04 82/62/72/+5/0.00/763/98 26 WNW AERO 26 WNW RMY 25
09/05 76/55/66/-1/0.00/760/98 25 W AERO 25 W RMY 24
09/06 78/58/68/+1/0.00/356/46 24 W AERO 24 W RMY N/A
09/07 79/61/70/+4/0.00/632/82 27 SSE AERO 30 SSE RMY 28
09/08 82/61/72/+6/0.00/545/71 17 S AERO 16 S RMY 17
09/09 80/62/71/+5/0.00/214/28 16 S AERO 15 S RMY 16
09/10 81/69/75/+10/0.28/015/02 21 SSW AERO 21 SSW RMY N/A
09/11 72/55/64/-1/0.01/152/20 25 N AERO 25 N RMY N/A
09/12 68/51/60/-5/0.00/666/88 21 ENE AERO 21 ENE RMY 21
09/13 74/53/64/0/0.00/611/81 26 SSW AERO 26 SSW RMY 26
09/14 74/50/62/-2/0.00/511/68 29 NNW AERO 33 NNW RMY 30
09/15 64/44/54/-10/0.00/583/78 18 S AERO 18 S RMY N/A
09/16 72/49/61/-2/0.00/603/81 31 SSW AERO 31 SSW RMY 31
09/17 76/57/67/+4/0.00/453/61 26 WSW AERO 28 W RMY N/A
09/18 64/48/56/-6/0.00/163/22 28 NE AERO 30 NNW RMY N/A
09/19 59/42/51/-11/0.00/722/98 23 N AERO 23 N RMY N/A
09/20 58/40/49/-13/0.00/602/82 25 NE AERO 25 NE RMY 27
09/21 61/41/51/-10/0.00/694/95 29 NE AERO 27 NE RMY 29
09/22 63/39/51/-10/0.00/022/03 28 NNW AERO 30 NNW RMY 29
09/23 78/50/64/+4/0.00/617/85 31 NW AERO 32 WNW RMY 32
09/24 76/57/67/+7/0.00/347/48 20 SW AERO 18 WSW RMY 19
09/25 77/57/67/+7/0.00/655/91 18 ENE AERO 18 WSW RMY N/A
09/26 77/57/67/+8/0.00/516/72 21 S AERO 21 S RMY 21
09/27 79/64/72/+13/0.01/121/17 24 S AERO 25 S RMY 24
09/28 78/64/71/+13/0.07/199/28 24 SSE AERO 24 S RMY 25
09/29 76/62/69/+11/0.01/234/33 30 S AERO 30 S RMY N/A
09/30 72/56/64/+6/1.01/395/56 71 S AERO 88 S RMY N/A
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 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
10/01 75/56/66/+9/0.00/…/.. 28 SW AERO 28 SW RMY N/A
10/02 63/49/56/-1/0.02/…/.. 20 NW AERO 21 NW RMY 20
10/03 65/45/55/-1/0.00/…/.. 19 WNW AERO 19 WNW RMY 19
10/04 65/45/55/-1/0.00/…/.. 17 ESE AERO 18 ESE RMY 18
10/05 62/52/57/+1/0.00/…/.. 17 ENE AERO 17 ENE RMY N/A
10/06 69/51/60/+5/0.00/…/.. 28 S AERO 28 S RMY 29
10/07 The low since midnight is 54F, the daily normal low is 46F
DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):
RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 7
HIGH 88F IN 1963 (RECORD FOR MONTH)
LOW 30F IN 1904,1986
PRECIP 1.75 INCHES IN 1972
PEAK GUST 76 W IN 2020
RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 8
HIGH 81F IN 1916,1990
LOW 28F IN 1919
PRECIP 2.31 INCHES IN 1891
SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1988, 2001 (EARLIEST DATE)
PEAK GUST 60 MPH NE IN 1996
TODAY’S REPORT PREPARED BY: Benjamin Turner
