BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2004 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME SNOWFALL EVENT TOTAL 11.2 INCHES THROUGH EARLY THIS AFTERNOON... And still the light snow or snow grains keep coming adding another 0.2 inch to the 11.0 total recorded through 7 a.m. this morning. The road to the summit remains unplowed early this afternoon and so it's a difficult trip up even with 4-wheel drive with 10 inches of snow on the ground. High temperatures are still falling far short of 30 degrees despite a little sun through breaks in the overcast. TODAY'S SCHEDULED OBSERVATIONS.... 7 a.m. overcast with 7/8 visibility in light snow and 24 deg; wind nne at 09 mph; snowfall 24 hrs 4.5 ins. BHO SA 1155 W8 X 7/8S-SG- 199/24/22/0208/012/ WND GRDLY VEERING TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 4.5 INS EVENT TOTAL 11.0 INS/ 8//// 4/010 53015 ASOS 60005 MANUAL 6009/ ASOS 70018 MANUAL 70035 10025 20023 10 a.m. overcast with thin spots in overcast and 6 miles visibility in light snow grains; temp. 26; wind ne at 10 gusting 17 mph....3 hourly snowfall 0.2 inch BHO SA 1455 E12 OVC 6SG- 218/26/21/0409G15/017/ OVC OCNL PTLY THN OVHD SUN OCNL DMLY VSB VSBY NE 5 SW 8 PCPN VRY LGT TOTAL NEW SNW PST 3 HRS 0.2 IN/ 8/5// 51019 ASOS 60001 MANUAL 6003/ 1 p.m. overcast with breaks and very light snow grains with 10 miles visibility and 27 deg; dewpoint 20; wind ene 09 mph; total new snow 6 hrs 0.2 inch BHO SA 1755 E18 OVC 10SG- 221/27/20/0608/018/ OCNL BINOVC SUN DMLY VSB SBUKN PCPN VRY LGT TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 0.2 IN/ 8/5// 50003 MANUAL 6003/ ASOS 60001 10028 20024 OUR WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY MARCH 17 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....27 NORMAL.....45 HAZEN SHELTER: 27.3 @ 3:30 A.M. MIN.... 21 NORMAL.....28 HAZEN SHELTER: 21.0 @ 8:24 A.M. MEAN....24 NORMAL.....37 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....-13 TOTAL DEPARTURE MARCH TO DATE....+57 MARCH IS AVERAGING 3.2 DEGREES WARMER THAN NORMAL DAILY... ASOS MAX/MIN FOR 3/17: 27/21 // TIMES: 4:18 A.M. AND 9:35 A.M. HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR YESTERDAY.......41 DEPARTURE.....+13 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR MARCH..........468 DEPARTURE.....-57 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON....5094 DEPARTURE.....- 4 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST SEASON...5497 DIFFERENCE...-403 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........47 NE AT 2:07 A.M. AEROVANE.........46 NE AT 2:07 A.M. ASOS.............46 ENE AT 12:45 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..........29 ENE AT 2:08 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......29 ENE AT 2:08 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED/DIRECTION........N/A AVERAGE ASOS WIND FOR YESTERDAY ....15.8 MPH PRECIPITATION (INCHES) UPDATED MARCH 18 TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HR ENDING 7 A.M.....0.35 ASOS..............0.18 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR MARCH..............2.36 DEPARTURE FOR MARCH TO DATE...............-0.24 TOTAL ASOS PRECIPITATION FOR MARCH.........1.89 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR 2004...............5.84 DEPARTURE....-5.60 TOTAL ASOS PRECIPITATION FOR 2004..........4.88 SNOWFALL (INCHES) TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M......4.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR MARCH...................15.5 DEPARTURE..... +8.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............57.2 DEPARTURE..... +8.7 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/n/a/n/a/000/00 47 MPH NE Aerovane 46 MPH NE 3/18 morning low temp. 23 deg. There is ONE NEW DAILY RECORD FOR MARCH 2004; record high max. temp. of 63 on March 02, the previous record was 61 in 1991. RECORDS FOR MARCH 18 HIGH 68 IN 1999 LOW 0 IN 1885 PRECIP 5.61 INCHES IN 1968 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 9.3 INCHES IN 1985 PEAK GUST 71e MPH WNW IN 1941 RECORDS FOR MARCH 19 HIGH 69 IN 1903 LOW -02 IN 1967 PRECIP 1.69 INCHES IN 1956 SNOWFALL 17.6 INCHES IN 1956 PEAK GUST 75e MPH WNW IN 1941 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling