BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2004 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME TODAY'S DISCUSSION.... JANUARY 2004 TIES FOR 3RD COLDEST OF ALL TIME WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 17.2 DEGREES... January 2004 finishes tied 3rd coldest January on 119-year record with January 1918 & 1912. If it weren't for the first five days of this past month, we could be looking at a sole 3rd place or even a 2nd place on the all-time "cold January list." Here is a list of the "Top 11 Coldest Januarys" Jan. 1920....15.5 Jan. 1888....16.3 Jan. 2004....17.2 Jan. 1918....17.2 Jan. 1912....17.2 Jan. 1893....17.4 Jan. 1981....18.1 Jan. 1970....18.2 Jan. 1940....18.5 Jan. 1977....18.6 Jan. 1904....18.6 This past month finishes with a departure of -273 degrees, which comes out to be 9.0 degrees below average per day. The highest temperature of this past January was 47 degrees on the 4th and the lowest was -12 degrees on the 16th. Sunshine was 58% of possible and therefore tied for 8th sunniest January with 1968. It was the sunniest January since 1986 which had 59%. Average January sunshine would be 46% of possible. With respect to precipitation, only 1.72 inches of liquid fell at the Observatory, which was -3.06 inches below the average. This ranks as the 7th driest January on record and the driest since 1.00 inch in 1989. With respect to snowfall, only 8.5 inches of the white stuff fell at the Observatory, which was -7.0 inches below the average. The prevailing wind direction was WNW and 33% OF THE TIME; rarely do we record a month with a prevailing wind direction over 30% of the time. We'll have to research out the last time that we had such a prevalance. Today's observations: 2/2/2004 MON 7 a.m. clear and 19 deg; wind nnw at 10 mph... BHO SA 1155 CLR 35 320/19/15/3309/048/ SC LYR OFFSHR NE-ESE THN K LYR ALG HRZNS VSBY 55 ABV INVSN WNW/ 8/500/ 53014 10022 20018 10 a.m. clear and 28 deg; wind nw at 05 mph... BHO SA 1455 CLR 40 331/28/18/3204/051/ LONE CUFRA OVR CTY N FEW SC DSNT WSW-NW AND DSNT NE-SE VSBY WNW-N 60 LGT HAZE ALQDS/ 8/800/ 51011 1 p.m. few clouds and 35 deg; wind light variable BHO SA 1755 30 SCT 300 -SCT 45 322/35/22/1703/048/ THN CS LYR SW-W INCRSNG WND L/V/ 8/505/ 58009 10036 20019 OUR WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 01 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....31 NORMAL.....34 HAZEN SHELTER: 25.3 MIN.... 09 NORMAL.....18 HAZEN SHELTER: 11.2 MEAN....20 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....-6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE JANUARY ...-273 (-9.0 DEGREES/DAY) ASOS MAX/MIN FOR 1/29: 31/09 HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR YESTERDAY.......45 DEPARTURE......+6 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR JANUARY.......1483** DEPARTURE....+273 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON....3603 DEPARTURE.....+67 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST SEASON...3675 DIFFERENCE...-167 ** corrected from yesterday PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........33 NW AT 1:47 A.M. AEROVANE.........38 NW AT 2:19 A.M. ASOS.............33 NW AT 2:19 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..........N/A MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......26 NW AT 2:19 A.M. AVERAGE ASOS WIND FOR YESTERDAY ....14.6 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HR ENDING 7 A.M.....0.00 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR JANUARY............1.72 DEPARTURE....-3.06 ASOS..............1.40 SNOWFALL (INCHES) TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M......0.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................8.5 DEPARTURE......-7.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............38.7 DEPARTURE......+9.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY, 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 1/1 41/30/36/+09/0.00/0.0/461/84/ 35 WNW 1/2 35/28/32/+05/0.08/0.6/000/00/ 18 SSW 1/3 45/33/39/+12/0.15/0.0/000/00/ 21 SSW 1/4 47/32/40/+13/0.28/T/000/00/ 23 WNW 1/5 34/30/32/+05/0.58/0.4/000/00/ 25 ENE 1/6 32/16/24/-02/0.06/0.6/514/93/ 43 WNW Aerovane 45 MPH WNW 1/7 20/12/16/-10/T/T/404/73/ 37 W 1/8 18/06/12/-10/0/0/505/91/ 51 W Aerovane 51 MPH W 1/9 05/-4/01/-25/0/0/550/99/ 36 NW 1/10 10/-7/02/-24/0/0/557/100/ 32 WNW 1/11 21/-4/09/-17/0/0/328/58/ 30 SSW 1/12 30/20/25/-1/.10/1.4/000/00/ 25 SW 1/13 38/05/21/-4/.001/0.2/107/19/ 61 WNW Aerovane 63 MPH WNW 1/14 05/-8/-2/-28/0/0/474/84/ 39 WNW 1/15 05/-10/-3/-29/0.03/0.5/384/68/ 44 WNW 1/16 10/-12/-1/-27/0/0/516/91/ 47 WNW Aerovane 50 MPH WNW 1/17 34/08/21/-5/0/0/540/95/ 46 NW 1/18 32/23/28/+2/0.22/2.0/000/00 36 WNW 1/19 24/12/18/-7/0/0/561/98 42 WNW Aerovane 44 MPH WNW 1/20 22/9/16/-9/0/0/574/100 42 WNW 1/21 27/9/18/-7/0/0/437/76 33 NW 1/22 33/12/23/-2/T/T/000/00 42 WNW 1/23 18/6/12/-13/0/0/493/85 47 WNW Aerovane 48 MPH WNW 1/24 16/1/9/-17/0/0/442/75 39 WNW 1/25 13/-5/4/-22/0/0/548/94 43 W 1/26 17/1/9/-17/0/0/434/74 28 NNW 1/27 21/9/15/-11/0/0/018/03 18 N 1/28 25/18/22/-4/0.21/2.7/000/00 35 WNW 1/29 25/13/19/-7/T/T/439/74 60 WNW Aerovane 61 MPH WNW 1/30 23/10/17/-9/0/0/524/88 46 WNW 1/31 25/11/18/-8/T*/0.1*/436/73 35 WNW *[corrected from yesterday's report ] FEBRUARY 2004 DATA 2/1 31/9/20/-6/0/0/.../.. 33 NW Aerovane 38 MPH NW 2/2 morning low 18 deg; high through 2 p.m. 37 degrees.. DAILY RECORDS FOR MONTH OF JANUARY 2004... 1/9...low max. temp. of 5....previous record 9 in 1968 [corrected] 1/10..low max. temp. of 10...previous record 13 in 1886,1912,1960,1982 1/10..low min. temp. of -7...previous record -1 in 1945,1968,1982 1/14..low max. temp. of 5....previous record 12 in 1914,1988 1/15..low max. temp. of 5....previous record 7 in 1957,1965 1/16..low min. temp. of -12..previous record -10 in 1920 DAILY EXTREMES RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2 HIGH 55F IN 1951 & 1973 LOW -12F IN 1961 PRECIP 1.91 INCHES IN 1999 SNOWFALL 5.5 INCHES IN 1916 & 1934 PEAK GUST 92 MPH SW IN 1970 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling