BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA THURSDAY APRIL 18 2002 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http://www.bluehill.org/ DAILY DISCUSSION.....4/18/2002....11 A.M VERY CLOSE TO ALL TIME APRIL RECORD OF 94 DEGREES 4/19/1976!!! NEW EARLY SEASON RECORD AND NEW DAILY RECORD SET YESTERDAY... DRAMATIC TEMPERATURE DROP DURING THE EVENING... 93 DEGREES....2ND HIGHEST TEMP. ON RECORD FOR APRIL... Broke two records yesterday; the daily record, last established in 1976 was 87 degrees, and earliest 90-degree temperature on record; previous record 92 degrees on April 18, 1976. Probably one of the biggest stories of yesterday was the dramatic temperature drop during the evening with the passage of a backdoor cold front. This event rivaled that of May 9th 2000 when we saw temperatures drop from the lower 90s to the 50s within minutes. At 6pm EDT last evening the temperature here was still 89 degrees, by 7pm we were in the midst of the wild drop with a reading on the hour of 71 degrees. By 8pm the temperature had settled to 51 degrees. This was all accompanied by a wind gust to 51 MPH out of the NE at 7:02PM EDT. Just to top off the excitement, a thunderstorm rolled through the local area around 3am EDT this morning dropping 0.17" of rain here on the summit in a brief downpour. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS.... 8 A.M. BHO SA 1155 -X 180 OVC 1/2F 180/51/51/0107/006/ SUN DMLY VSBL/ 8/5/// 51020 6017/ 70017 10052 20049 11 A.M. BHO SA 1455 220 -SCT 300 -BKN 8 180/67/54/0405/006/ WND L/V/ HAZY/ 8/001/ 54000 THE DATA RECORDED FOR WEDNESDAY APRIL 17... TEMPERATURES....CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT....EST MAX : 93 MIN: 51 // ASOS MAX: 93 ASOS MIN: 52 NORMAL HIGH AND LOW: 56/38 MEAN 72 [+ 25] TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR APRIL TO DATE: +118 deg. THE APRIL TEMPERATURE IS 6.9 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL..... PRECIPITATION....ON 04/18 AS OF 8 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M. . 0.17 INS. ASOS......................0.17 INS. TOTAL FOR APRIL TO DATE...1.66 INS. STD GAGE DEP. FROM NORMAL........- 0.88 INS. PRECIP. TOTAL YEAR 2002: 11.86 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....-4.31 INS. SNOWFALL.... ON 04/18 AS OF 8 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.... 0.0 INS. APRIL TOTAL SNOWFALL......0.6 INS. SEASONAL TOTAL TO DATE. 39.6 INS. WIND DATA....FOR 04/17... PEAK GUST ASOS: 46 MPH NNE AT 7:02 P.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 51 MPH NE AT 7:02 P.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 50 MPH NE AT 7:12 P.M. APRIL 2002 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system 4/1 56/38/47/+6/1.02/0/244/32/ 54 W (Aero 53 MPH W ) 4/2 59/33/46/+4/0/0/582/76/ 37 W 4/3 66/36/51/+9/0.16/0/138/18/ 43 S (Aero 45 MPH WNW ) 4/4 48/31/40/-2/0/0/.../../ 31 WNW 4/5 44/26/35/-8/0.02/0.6/.../../ 22 NNW 4/6 45/28/37/-6/T/T/.../../ 31 NW 4/7 46/23/35/-8/0/0/.../../ 29 NNW 4/8 55/36/46/+2/0.01/0/023/03/ 32 S 4/9 69/46/58/+14/T/0/.../../ 46 SSW 4/10 65/47/56/+12/0.12/0/.../../ 32 NW 4/11 52/38/45/0/0/0/.../../ 28 E 4/12 65/37/51/+6/0/0/.../../ 40 S 4/13 74/53/64/+19/T/0/.../../ 40 SW 4/14 76/53/65/+19/0.06/0/.../../ 39 W 4/15 62/44/53/+7/0.10/0/.../../ 22 SSW 4/16 86/44/65/+19/0/0/.../../ 21 SSW 4/17 93/51/72/+25/0/0/.../../ 51 NE 4/18 Morning low 49 degrees, 0.17" rainfall. RECORDS FOR APRIL 18 HIGH 92 IN 1976 LOW 23 IN 1887 PRECIP 1.48 INS 1954 SNOWFALL: 3.7 INS. IN 1965 PEAK GUST 59 MPH S IN 1982 RECORDS FOR APRIL 19 HIGH 94 IN 1976 LOW 21 IN 1890 PRECIP 1.71 INS 1969 SNOWFALL: 6.0 INS. IN 1887 PEAK GUST 66 MPH E IN 1984 e = estimated MFD