<x-flowed> BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA MONDAY MAY 06 2002 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http://www.bluehill.org/ SEE OUR NEW OFFICE CAM FACING WEST OUT WEST WINDOW AT WWW.BLUEHILL.ORG/WEBCAM DAILY DISCUSSION.....5/6/2002 PLEASE SEE THE DELAYED APRIL 2002 STATISTICS BELOW.... LARGE TURNOUT FOR OUR OPEN HOUSE ON SATURDAY MAY 4TH... Our annual open house here at the Observatory was attended by hundreds of visitors who enjoyed touring the Observatory, talks by Miles Lawrence of the National Tropical Prediction Center, kite making sessions and the great views from the tower roof. Many people visited our gift shop and toured the historic exhibits in the building and out in the kite shed. A gala event during the evening was attended by many friends of the Observatory and some famous local meteorologists including Don Kent, Bob Copeland, Bruce Schwoegler, Harvey Leonard, and Barry Burbank. Views of a rather rare celestial event known as a planetary alignment were enjoyed from the tower roof right after sunset. STRONG WINDS ON FRIDAY BRING NEAR HURRICANE FORCE GUSTS ON FRIDAY MAY 3RD... STRING OF BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ENDED YESTERDAY WITH THE FIRST ABOVE NORMAL MEAN IN 13 DAYS. Strong west winds on Friday gusted to 71 MPH at 12:38pm EDT. There were many gusts to and over 60mph making for one of the windiest days up here in quite sometime. Here is how our wind systems compared... 73 MPH - Maximum Inc. Maestro 71 MPH - NWS F420C (Official) 70 MPH - Aerovane Wind System 66 MPH - Maximum Inc. Merlin 62 MPH - ASOS 62 MPH - AWS/Weather Max (in Science Center ) The temperature yesterday averaged 6 degrees above normal and a very long stretch of colder-than-normal days ended on May 3rd. The long 12-day stretch of below normal temperatures was the longest since a 12-day stretch in August 2000!!! THE APRIL 2002 STATISTICS.... Mean temp: 48.5 deg. [ + 2.2 ] 24 hour corrected mean temp: 48.0 [ + 3.6 ] High: 93/17th ** Low : 23 7th HDD: 493 [ -71 ] CDD: 7 [ + 3 ] ** new record for date and also an early season record.... Precip: 3.31 ins. [ -1.01 ins.] Snowfall: 1.3 ins. - 2.0 ins. ] Sunshine: 51% of possible; 2 points above normal Peak gust: 54 MPH W [ 1st ] Peak gust Aerovane: 58 MPH W [ 1st ] Av. Station pressure: 29.362 ins. Av. Sea Level pressure: 30.073 ins. Prevailing wind direction: WNW 13% TODAY'S OBS.... 5/6/2002 MON 8 A.M. BHO SA 1155 CLR 20 261/53/46/2110/030/ HAZY VSBY WNW 45 ABV INVSN/ 53005 10053 20046 11 A.M. BHO SA 1455 CLR 35 254/69/43/2013/028/ FEW CI W LGT HAZE ALQDS VSBY WNW 45/ 8/001/ 58007 2 P.M. BHO SA 1755 300 -BKN 40 225/76/39/1917G25/019/ FEW CUFRA LGT HAZE ALQDS VSBY WNW 45/ 8/106/ 58029 10077 20053 THE DATA RECORDED FOR SUNDAY MAY 5.... TEMPERATURES....CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT.... EASTERN STANDARD TIME... MAX : 72 MIN: 46 // ASOS MAX: 72 ASOS MIN: 46 NORMAL HIGH AND LOW: 63/43 MEAN 59 [ + 6 ] TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR MAY TO DATE: - 8 degrees... THE MAY TEMPERATURE IS 1 1/2 DEGREES COOLER THAN NORMAL..... PRECIPITATION....ON 05/06 AS OF 8 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M. . 0.00 ASOS......................0.00 INS. ASOS TOTAL FOR MAY....... 0.62 INS. TOTAL FOR MAY.............0.64 INS. STD GAGE DEP. FROM NORMAL........- 0.01 INS. PRECIP. TOTAL YEAR 2002: 14.15 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....-4.45 INS. SNOWFALL.... APRIL TOTAL SNOWFALL......1.3 INS. SEASONAL TOTAL TO DATE. 40.3 INS. WIND DATA....FOR 05/05... PEAK GUST ASOS: 26 MPH S AT 5:44 P.M. EDT PEAK GUST 420C: 28 MPH S AT 6:08 P.M. EDT ** PEAK GUST AERO: 28 MPH S AT 6:08 P.M. EDT ** also at earlier times MAY 2002 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system 5/1 58/38/48/-4/0.00/0/.../../ 38 W 5/2 49/42/46/-6/0.62/0/000/00/ 35 SE 5/3 54/42/48/-5/0.02/0/.../../ 71 W (Aero 70 MPH W)(Maximum, Inc. 74 mph ) 5/4 68/39/54/+1/0/0/.../../ 33 WNW 5/5 72/46/59/+6/0/0/.../../ 28 S 5/6 morning low temp. 46 degrees..normal; 44 degrees RECORDS FOR MAY 06 HIGH 90 IN 1930 LOW 29 IN 1891 PRECIP 1.04 INS 1890 SNOWFALL: TRACE IN 1917 AND 1996 (corrected ) PEAK GUST 65 MPH SSE IN 1989 RECORDS FOR MAY 07 HIGH 93 IN 1930 LOW 33 IN 1970 PRECIP 1.15 INS 1998 SNOWFALL: TRACE IN 1967 PEAK GUST 66e MPH WNW IN 1940 e = estimated Robert Skilling </x-flowed>