BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2004 ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME [unless otherwise noted] PRECIPITATION DEPARTURE FOR 2004 BRIEFLY ABOVE NORMAL THRU MAY 3RD.... In case you missed it, a positive precipitation departure existed as of May 3rd for the first time this year. It was only +0.05 inch but the big negative departure which existed through the end of March was mostly erased during the very wet month of April and then went on to slightly exceed the normal at least through May 3rd but through May 4th we've dropped back to -0.08 inch. TODAY'S OBS...5/5/2004 8 a.m. high thin broken ci clouds with 55 miles visibility and a thin smoke layer or brown ring along horizons with shallow inversion slowly dissipating; temp. 48; dewpoint 23; sw at 07 mph and slowly backing; rel. humidity 37%; six hour minimum temperature 38 deg... BHO SA 1155 250 -SCT 300 -BKN 55 173/48/23/2206/004/ MSTLY CLR SKY DSNT NE-SSW THN K LYR ALG HRZNS BLO SHLW INVSN WND GRDLY BACKING/ 8/001 51009 10048 20038 11 a.m. high thin scattered ci clouds and 55 miles visibility and temp. 60; dewpoint 29; wind south at 17 gusting 24 mph; light haze BHO SA 1455 250 -SCT 300 -SCT 55 159/60/29/1915G21/000/ THN CI W-N-E FEW AC/ACSL WSW-N LGT HZ/ 8/041 58014 2 p.m. cloudy with 50 miles visibility and 61 deg; dewpoint 34; wind ssw 18 gusting 31 mph; six hour maximum temp. 65 BHO SA 1755 E70 OVC 50 140/61/34/2016GG27/994/ BINOVC DSNT E-SE FEW LWR CU VIRGA DSNT W-NW LGT HZ PK WND 1830/07/ 8/16/ 55019 10065 20048 OUR WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, MAY 4: TIMES ARE LOCAL DAYLIGHT TIME... TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....58 NORMAL.....62 HAZEN...58.2 @ 4:08 P.M. MIN.....39 NORMAL.....43 HAZEN...39.2 @ 6:47 A.M. MEAN....49 NORMAL.....53 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....-4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....+21 (5.1 DEGREES/DAY) HEATING DEGREE DAYS - COOLING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR YESTERDAY........16 DEPARTURE....+ 4 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH...... 29 DEPARTURE....-21 TOTAL COOLING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH.........0 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON....6022 DEPARTURE....-55 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST SEASON...6497 DIFFERENCE..-475 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) TIME: EDT PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........40 WNW AT 12:11 P.M. AEROVANE.........46 WNW AT 9:07 A.M. ** ASOS.............40 NW AT 5:33 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..........33 WNW AT 12:09 P.M. ** MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......33 WNW AT 4:58 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION... 18.6 WNW ASOS............ 18.2 ** several additional earlier occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TIME: EDT TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M....0.00 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.04 DEPARTURE....+0.52 ASOS..............1.01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........18.39 DEPARTURE....-0.08 ASOS.............15.99 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............58.0 DEPARTURE....+1.8 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MAY 2004.....CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day ....: Data not yet available 5/1 78/50/64/+12/0/0/.../.. 39 MPH SSW 5/2 72/56/64/+12/0.06/.../.. 45 MPH S Aerovane 49 MPH S 5/3 61/47/54/+1/N/A/000/00 35 MPH S 5/4 58/39/49/-4/0.32/.../.. 40 MPH WNW Aerovane 46 MPH WNW 5/5 morning low temp. 38 deg... DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MAY 5 HIGH 92F IN 1949 LOW 30F IN 1891 PRECIP 2.74 INCHES IN 1922 SNOWFALL 3.0 INCHES IN 1917 PEAK GUST 58 MPH S IN 1966 & 58e MPH SW IN 1976 RECORDS FOR MAY 6 HIGH 90F IN 1930 LOW 29F IN 1891 PRECIP 1.04 INCHES IN 1890 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1917,1996 PEAK GUST 65 MPH SSE IN 1989 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling