BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY APRIL 01 2004 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME TODAY'S DISCUSSION....1:00 P.M. Heavy rainfall total is nearly 3 inches for the 24 hours ending early this afternoon. Actually, as of 1 p.m. our storm total is 2.92 inches and since midnight 1.73 or just 0.55 inch short of the record for this date, April 1st, of 2.28 inches in 1962. SPECIAL REPORT...8 A.M. HEAVY RAINFALL TOTALS OVER 2 INCHES IN JUST OVER 18 HOURS... The rain which began shortly before noon yesterday continued through last night and several hours had totals exceeding 0.2 inch. The maximum amount in any 60 minutes was 0.33 inch during the hour which ended at 3:43 p.m. yesterday afternoon. A break in the precipitation finally occurred starting about 6:30 a.m. this morning. Overnight the maximum amount in any clock hour is 0.23 inch ending at 2 a.m. The total through midnight according to the ASOS tipping bucket was 1.15 inches and 1.19 inches is computed for the standard gage. The storm total through 7 a.m. this morning is 2.04 inches for the ASOS tipping bucket and was measured at 2.12 inches for the standard gage. Northeast winds have been slowly increasing since midnight and began gusting past 30 kts just after 5 a.m. with our peak of 36 kts ENE recorded at 6:41 a.m. That gust was recorded as 43 MPH ENE on the Aerovane wind system. TODAY'S SCHEDULED OBSERVATIONS.... 7 a.m. obscurement at 100 ft. with 1/16 mile visibility in dense fog; temp and dewpoint 38 deg; wind ne at 25 gusts reaching 39 mph with a peak gust for the hour at 41 mph ENE. Six hourly precipitation 0.73 inch; 24 hourly precipitation 2.12 inches; Six hourly minimum temp. 36 degrees... BHO SA 1155 W1 X 1/16F 105/38/38/0422G34/984/ PK WND 0636/41/ RE30LE35/ 8//// 58007 MANUAL 6074/ ASOS 60071 MANUAL 70212 ASOS 70204 10038 20036 10 a.m. obscurement at 100 ft. visibility 1/16 miles in light rain and dense fog; temp. 39; wind ne 27 gusting 37 mph... BHO SA 1455 W2 X 1/16R-F 102/39/39/0523G32/983/ PK WND 0535/39/ 8//// 58003 ASOS 60013 MANUAL N/A 1 p.m. obscurement at 200 ft. visibility 1/16 mile in modt. rain and dense fog; temp. 40; dewpoint 40; wind ne at 16 gusting 27 mph; six hourly precipitation 0.80 inch... BHO SA 1755 W2 X 1/16RF 089/40/40/0516G23/979/ ONCL R+/ 8//// 56013 ASOS 60076 MANUAL 6080/ MANUAL STORM TOTAL 2.92 10040 20038 OUR WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY MARCH 31 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....39 NORMAL.....50 HAZEN SHELTER: 38.8 @ 10:20 A.M. MIN.... 34 NORMAL.....32 HAZEN SHELTER: 34.4 @ 12:01 A.M. MEAN....37 NORMAL.....41 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL....- 4 TOTAL DEPARTURE MARCH TO DATE....+ 24 THE MARCH TEMPERATURE DEPARTURE WAS + 0.5 DEGREES WARMER THAN NORMAL... ASOS MAX/MIN FOR 3/31: 38/34 /// TIMES: 12:53 P.M. AND 12:02 A.M. HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR YESTERDAY.......28 DEPARTURE.....+ 4 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR MARCH..........866 DEPARTURE.....-28 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON....5492 DEPARTURE.....+28 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST SEASON...5801 DIFFERENCE...-309 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........32 NE AT 9:17 P.M. AEROVANE.........32 NE AT 3:37 P.M. ASOS.............31 ENE AT 3:38 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..........23 NE AT 3:37 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......24 ENE AT 5:38 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED/DIRECTION......13.6 ENE AVERAGE ASOS WIND FOR YESTERDAY...13.8 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) UPDATED APRIL 01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....2.12 ASOS..............2.04 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR MARCH..............4.49 DEPARTURE FOR MARCH TO DATE...............-0.30 TOTAL ASOS PRECIPITATION FOR MARCH.........3.89 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR 2004...............8.90 DEPARTURE....-4.73 TOTAL ASOS PRECIPITATION FOR 2004..........6.88 SNOWFALL (INCHES) TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR MARCH...................15.8 DEPARTURE..... +5.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL THIS SEASON.................57.5 DEPARTURE......+5.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 2004......CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day ....: Data not yet available 3/1 55/38/47/+15/0/0/588/87 27 MPH S 3/2 63/37/50/+18/0.04/0/298/44 50 MPH W Aerovane 50 MPH W 3/3 53/37/45/+13/0/0/592/87 46 MPH WNW Aerovane 51 MPH WNW 3/4 48/35/42/+9/0.07/0/000/00 22 MPH WSW 3/5 45/38/42/+9/0.02/0/000/00 31 MPH SSE 3/6 57/36/47/+14/0.26/0/028/04 53 MPH W Aerovane 55 MPH WNW 3/7 46/32/39/+6/0/0/658/95 43 MPH W 3/8 33/26/30/-4/0.50/3.5/000/00 31 MPH NE 3/9 31/26/29/-5/0.01/0.2/000/00 15 MPH SSE 3/10 39/27/33/-1/0/0/294/42 40 MPH NE 3/11 44/29/37/+2/0/0/113/16 38 MPH N 3/12 46/27/37/+2/0.10/0.8/156/22 51 MPH W 3/13 40/25/33/-2/0/0/682/96 40 MPH WNW Aerovane 43 MPH NW 3/14 40/21/31/-5/0/0/357/50 35 MPH S 3/15 50/32/41/+5/T/T/630/88 43 MPH W Aerovane 43 MPH W 3/16 35/24/30/-6/0.76/5.2/043/06 46 MPH NE 3/17 27/21/24/-13/0.45/4.0/000/00 47 MPH NE Aerovane 46 MPH NE 3/18 30/22/26/-11/0.18/2.0/138/19 27 MPH NNE 3/19 32/22/27/-10/0.01/0.1/015/02 35 MPH ENE 3/20 41/22/32/-6/0.25/T/409/56 37 MPH S 3/21 47/26/37/-1/0.32/0/154/21 47 MPH W Aerovane 48 MPH W 3/22 30/18/24/-14/0/0/714/97 38 MPH W Aerovane 43 MPH W 3/23 40/15/28/-10/T/T/687/93 33 MPH SSW 3/24 52/27/40/+1/0/0/631/85 27 MPH SSE 3/25 53/37/45/+6/0.01/0/015/02 35 MPH S 3/26 66/43/55/+16/0.01/0/351/47 33 MPH S 3/27 62/43/53/+13/0.31/0/053/07 35 MPH NE 3/28 44/32/38/-2/0/0/000/00 46 MPH NNE 3/29 40/29/35/-5/0/0/529/70 30 MPH NE 3/30 41/29/35/-6/T/T/228/30 20 MPH ESE 3/31 39/34/37/-4/1.19/0/000/00 32 MPH NE 4/1 morning low temp. 36 deg. There is JUST ONE NEW DAILY RECORD FOR MARCH 2004; record high max. temp. of 63 on March 02, the previous record was 61 in 1991. THE DAILY EXTREMES.... RECORDS FOR APRIL 01 HIGH 74 IN 1967 LOW 06 IN 1923 PRECIP 2.28 INCHES IN 1962 SNOWFALL 15.0 INCHES IN 1997 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PEAK GUST 75 MPH SSW IN 1962 RECORDS FOR APRIL 02 HIGH 77 IN 1967 LOW 14 IN 1919 PRECIP 1.83 INCHES IN 1970 SNOWFALL 13.0 INCHES IN 1887 PEAK GUST 76 MPH SSW IN 1970 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling