BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 11 2002 DISCUSSION.....9/11/2002....2:30 P.M. WINDS....AS OF 2:30 P.M. ALSO LOW BAROMETER.... LOWEST BAROMETER DROPS TO 29.18 INS [ASOS] AT 2:18 P.M. [ LOWEST PRESSURE SINCE JANUARY ] WINDS ARE INCREASING GUSTING PAST 40 MPH JUST AFTER 2 P.M. PEAK GUST TO 46 MPH W ON AEROVANE AT 2:17 P.M. / 45 MPH 420C/ 44 MPH MAXIMUM, INC. MERLIN AND MAESTRO / 43 MPH WNW on AWS SYSTEM.... ASOS REPORTS GUST 41 MPH W // FASTEST 2 MINUTE WIND 33 MPH W AT 2:20 P.M. DISCUSSION.... NO RECORD TEMPERATURE YESTERDAY--MAXIMUM OF 89 WAS ONE DEGREE SHY OF THE RECORD FOR SEPTEMBER 10TH...SET IN 1931 AND 1989... NO RAIN FROM GUSTAV AND NOTHING FROM COLD FRONT SO DRY WEATHER PATTERN ENTERS ITS SECOND WEEK... WINDS VEER FROM SSW TO WNW BY LATE MORNING AND INCREASE STEADILY GUSTING WELL PAST 30 MPH BY EARLY AFTERNOON... It does not appear that we'll have any more record breaking heat for a while after we missed yesterday's record by one degree. So, the only record during the three day hot spell was 91 on the 9th breaking the record of 89 for that date in 1943 and 1971. Tropical Storm GUSTAV become Hurricane GUSTAV (first hurricane of the season) as it passed southeast of Cape Cod this afternoon. As the hurricane merges with an extra-tropical low over Atlantic Canada later today winds are expected to gust past 50 MPH from the west-northwest and northwest. It's been a long time since we've had any strong winds here at Blue Hill as the peak gust for all of August was only around 40 MPH. The last strong gust here was 79 MPH WNW in a thunderstorm on July 15th. Once again we have another cold front passing by without any rainfall and so another dry spell is starting its second week and September precipitation is falling below normal. Some light rain from GUSTAV spread over Cape Cod early this morning but that was it for any rainfall in southern New England. THE OBSERVATIONS FOR TODAY..... 9/11/2002 WED 8 A.M. BHO SA 1155 E3 OVC 2F 943/70/69/2109/936/ HIER CLDS OCNL VSB/ 8/6/// 58033 10070 20068 11 A.M. BHO SA 1455 15 SCT E45 BKN 250 BKN 300 OVC 9 916/76/68/2711/928/ OVC PTLY THN VSBY N 10 LWR SE-S HAZY ALQDS WND GRDLY VEERING/ 8/507/ 56027 2 P.M. BHO SA 1755 45 SCT 100 SCT 200 SCT 250 -BKN 300 -OVC 50 887/74/57/2922G31/920/ FEW MDT CU DENSE CI NE-SE BINOVC/LINE OF CLRG SW-NW VSBY NW 60 PK WND 2933/24/ 8/272/ 56029 10077 20070 THE DATA RECORDED FOR TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10 .... TEMPERATURES....CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT.... EASTERN STANDARD TIME... MAX: 89 MIN: 67// ASOS MAX: 89 ASOS MIN: 67 MEAN: 78 [+14] SEPTEMBER DEPARTURE TO DATE: +40 DEG. The month is averaging 4 degrees WARMER THAN NORMAL... NORMAL HIGH/LOW/MEAN: 73/55/64 August averaged 3.1 degrees WARMER THAN NORMAL PRECIPITATION....ON 09/10 AS OF 8 A.M. EDT 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M.......0.00 INS. ASOS......................0.00 INS. SEPTEMBER TOTAL TO DATE...1.30 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....-0.03 INS. SEPTEMBER ASOS TOTAL......1.26 INS. AUGUST TOTAL..............2.77 INS. DEP. FRM NORMAL TO DATE..-1.29 INS. AUGUST ASOS TOTAL.........2.70 INS. PRECIP. TOTAL YEAR 2002...31.86 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.....-2.80 INS. ASOS TOTAL FOR 2002.......N/A WIND DATA...TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2002 PEAK GUST ASOS: 28 MPH SSW AT 1:32 P.M. EDT PEAK GUST 420C: 28 MPH SSW AT 1:32 P.M. EDT PEAK GUST AERO: 28 MPH SSW AT 1:32 P.M. EDT SEPT. 2002 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... BELOW IS ORDER OF DATA REPORTED.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significantly higher ... data as yet not available TSTM = thunderstorm day ASOS TWO MINUTE MAXIMUM WIND ON THE RIGHT... ASOS IS AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVING SYSTEM 9/1 66/52/59/-8/0.01/46/06/ 18 ENE ASOS 2 MIN MAX = 15 ENE 9/2 63/59/61/-5/0.87/000/00/ 28 NNE ASOS 2 MIN MAX = 20 NE 9/3 68/63/66/0/0.30/000/00/ 25 NE ASOS 2 MIN MAX = 17 NE 9/4 83/64/74/+8/0.12/.../../ 22 NW/ TSTM 2 MIN MAX = 17 NW 9/5 73/56/65/-1/0/.../../ 28 NW ASOS 2 MIN MAX = 22 NW 9/6 77/52/65/0/0/.../../ 21 NNW " 2 MIN MAX = 16 NW 9/7 83/61/72/+8/0/.../../ 17 SW " " = 14 SW 9/8 87/61/74/+9/0/.../../ 21 SW " " = 17 SW 9/9 91/65/78/+14/0/.../../ 20 WSW " " = 16 WSW 9/10 89/67/78/+14/0/.../../ 28 SSW " " = 22 SSW 9/11 morning low temp. 68 degrees.. RECORDS FOR SEPTEMBER 11 HIGH 93 IN 1983 LOW 37 IN 1917 PRECIP 5.23 INS IN 1954 [ HURRICANE EDNA ] ** PEAK GUST 101 NW IN 1954 [ HURRICANE EDNA ] ** RECORDS FOR SEPTEMBER 12 HIGH 92 IN 1961 LOW 42 IN 1967 and earlier years PRECIP 2.79 INS IN 1960 [ HURRICANE DONNA ] PEAK GUST 140 MPH SSE IN 1960 [ HURRICANE DONNA ] e = estimated Robert Skilling