BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 TUESDAY DECEMBER 17 2002 DISCUSSION FOR TODAY AT 1 P.M. THREE INCHES OF SNOW ON GROUND AND TEMPS IN MID 20'S EARLY THIS AFTERNOON... SUNSETS NOW OCCURRING LATER BUT SUNRISES GETTING LATER EACH MORNING... WINTER SOLSTICE ONLY A FEW DAYS AWAY NOW....DECEMBER 21ST AT 8:14 P.M. We have bright sunny skies and visibility up to 80 miles early this afternoon on a very white snow-covered landscape here at the summit. The morning low temperature dipped down to 17 degrees about 8 a.m. and the air has dried out with dewpoints dropping to the upper single numbers so it's definitely an Arctic airmass now in place. North and north-northwest winds are diminishing after peak gusts to 28 MPH during this morning. The month of December continues to averaged well below normal in temperature with an accumulated negative departure of -69 degrees through 16 days; the temp. is averaging 4.5 degrees below normal. The winter solstice will occur at 8:14 p.m. on December 21st this year. While sunrises continue to occur later by a few more minutes each day before reaching 7:13 a.m. on December 28th, the sunsets have already started to occur later and by two minutes at 4:13 p.m. starting today. The earliest sunsets occurred at 4:11 p.m. centered around December 9th. The latest sunrises will occur at 7:13 a.m. from December 28th through January 10th. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS... 12/17/2002 7 A.M. BHO SA 1155 E30 OVC 20SW- 215/18/12/0110/016/ SB UKN PCPN VRY LGT WSHFT 35 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 3.7 INS/ 8/5/// 4/003 53028 6000/ MANUAL 70041 ASOS 70041 10022 20018 10 A.M. BHO SA 1455 CLR 60 241/20/08/3512G20/024/ SC LYR NE-SSE FEW CUFRA/CU FRMG S-W-NW VSBY NE-SE 25 NW 70/ 8/800/ 51026 6000/ 1 P.M. BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 237/24/09/3410G17/023/ SC ALG/OFFSHR NE-SE FEW CUFRA/CU DSNT SSE-S/ 8/800/ 56004 10024 20017 THE DATA RECORDED FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 16.. TEMPERATURES ARE CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAX: 36 MIN: 23 ASOS MAX: 36 ASOS MIN: 23 MEAN: 30 [ - 1] NORMAL HIGH/LOW/MEAN: 38/24/31/ TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR DECEMBER TO DATE: - 69 degrees December is averaging 4.5 degrees colder than normal to date.... PRECIPITATION FOR 12/17 AS OF 7 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.......0.41 INS. TOTAL FOR ASOS............0.41 INS. TOTAL FOR DECEMBER........4.10 INS.(STD GAGE ) ASOS DECEMBER TOTAL.......3.86 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....+1.75 IN. (STD GAGE ) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS.....3.7 INS. DECEMBER SNOWFALL........10.5 INS. SEASONAL SNOWFALL........20.0 INS. PRECIP. TOTAL YEAR 2002...50.70 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.....+1.84 INS. WIND DATA FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 16 2002 PEAK GUST ASOS: 31 MPH N AT 12:29 P.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 31 MPH N AT 1:54 P.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 36 MPH N AT 1:54 P.M. DEC. 2002 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... BELOW IS ORDER OF DATA REPORTED.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL /SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM = thunderstorm day 12/1 35/21/28/-8/0/0/537/96/ 54 W Aerovane 53 MPH W 12/2 34/21/28/-8/000/00/006/01 29 SW 12/3 29/12/21/-14/0.08/1.2/547/98 44 NW Aerovane 50 MPH NW 12/4 28/11/20/-15/0/0/522/94 28 WNW 12/5 25/19/22/-13/0.28/3.7/000/00 22 NNW 12/6 28/21/25/- 9/0.11/1.7/000/00 22 NNW 12/7 37/20/29/-5/0/0/540/98 37 SSW 12/8 40/25/33/0/0/0/391/71/ 37 WNW Aerovane 41 MPH WNW 12/9 25/8/17/-16/0/0/545/99/ 35 NW Aerovane 39 MPH NW 12/10 37/17/27/-6/0/0/307/56/ 28 SW 12/11 40/25/33/+1/0.37/0/000/00 40 ENE Aerovane 41 MPH ENE lightning in cloud late evening 12/12 38/33/36/+4/0.87/T/000/00 44 NE Aerovane 46 MPH NE 12/13 44/32/38/+6/0.04/0/312/57 25 ENE 12/14 44/32/38/+7/1.94/0.2/000/00 53 ENE Aerovane 53 MPH ENE 12/15 43/34/39/+8/0/0/480/88 42 WNW Aerovane 45 MPH WNW 12/16 36/23/30/-1/0.41/3.7/000/00/ 31 N Aerovane 36 MPH N 12/17 morning low temp. 17 deg.; normal low now 23 deg. RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 17 HIGH 63 IN 2000 LOW -10 IN 1942 PRECIP 3.03 INS IN 1888 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS IN 1988 PEAK GUST 78 MPH SSE IN 2000 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 18 HIGH 59 IN 1928 LOW -11 in 1919 PRECIP 1.44 INS IN 1915 SNOWFALL 7.0 INS IN 1904 PEAK GUST 76e W IN 1978 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 19 HIGH 59 IN 1899 LOW -01 IN 1919 PRECIP 2.06 INS IN 1986 SNOWFALL 14.1 INS IN 1945 PEAK GUST 68e NE IN 1986 e = estimated Robert Skilling