BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2004 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME TODAY'S DISCUSSION.... TIED FOR 12TH COLDEST JANUARY THRU 19TH..... STRONG WINDS CONTINUE...WINDCHILLS NEAR ZERO EARLY THIS AFTERNOON... This morning's low of 9 degrees made today the 10th day out of twenty so far this month with low temperatures under 10 degrees. The monthly mean temperature (corr. to 24 hrs) is 18.8 degrees through yesterday and is now colder than 20.6 for January last year. In fact, the current mean equals the monthly mean for the very cold January, 1994, at 18.8 degrees, the 12th coldest January on our entire record. On six out of the past eight days winds from the west and west-northwest have gusted to 40 MPH or more and this stretch includes today. Windchill temperatures are hovering near zero as the thermometers struggles into the low 20's early this afternoon. Today's observations: 1/20/2004 TUE 7 a.m. clear with 60 miles visibility; 9 deg. wind west at 15 mph... BHO SA 1155 CLR 60 055/9/1/2713/969/ SC ALG/OFFSHR NNE-ESE FEW AC DSNT WSW-W AND N/ 8/540/ 4/002 51010 10012 20009 10 a.m. clear with 70 miles visibility; 16 deg. wind west 24 gusting 31 mph... BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 058/16/-1/2821G27/970/ FEW SC DSNT WNW-NNW AND OFFSHR DSNT NE-E FEW AC DSNT WSW PK WND 2828/30/ 8/540/ 53003 1 p.m. clear with 80 miles visibility; 20 deg. wind wnw 25 gusting 39 mph... BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 040/20/1/2922G34/965/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-E PK WND 2934/46/ 8/500/ 56018 10020 20009 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 19: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....24 NORMAL.....33 HAZEN SHELTER AT 12:51 P.M. @ 23.9 MIN.....12 NORMAL.....18 HAZEN SHELTER AT 11:43 P.M. @ 11.6 MEAN....18 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....-7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....-147 (-7.9 DEGREES/DAY) ASOS MAX/MIN FOR 1/19 23/12 HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR YESTERDAY.......47 DEPARTURE.....+7 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH......885 DEPARTURE...+147 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON....3005 DEPARTURE....-59 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST SEASON...3165 DIFFERENCE..-160 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........42 WNW AT 6:32 P.M. AEROVANE.........44 WNW AT 6:32 P.M. ASOS.............38 WNW AT 6:31 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......31 W AT 3:51 P.M. ASOS AVERAGE WIND FOR DAY...........19.7 MPH PRECIPITATION (INCHES) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH/YEAR.....1.51 DEPARTURE....-1.45 [corrected ] ASOS..............1.25 SNOWFALL (INCHES) TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M......0.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................5.7 DEPARTURE......-3.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............35.9 DEPARTURE......+12.8 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 31 WNW 1/19 24/12/18/-7/0/0/561/98 42 WNW Aerovane 44 MPH WNW 1/20 A.M. LOW TEMP. 09 deg. and it's another very sunny day... we now have 55% of the possible bright sunshine for January.... NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR THIS MONTH TO DATE: 1/9...low max. temp. of 5....previous record 12 1/10..low max. temp. of 10...previous record 13 1/10..low min. temp. of -7...previous -1 1/14..low max. temp. of 5....previous 12 1/15..low max. temp. of 5....previous 7 1/16..low min. temp. of -12..previous -10 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940: RECORDS FOR JANUARY 20 HIGH 59F IN 1951 LOW -09F IN 1901 PRECIP 1.95 INS. IN 1978 SNOWFALL 19.0 INS. IN 1978 PEAK GUST 76e MPH NE IN 1978 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 21 HIGH 65F IN 1906 LOW -04F IN 1888,1893 PRECIP 2.49 INS. IN 1979 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 2001 PEAK GUST 78e MPH SE IN 1979 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling