BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2004 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME [unless otherwise noted] AN ARRAY OF CLOUDS TODAY, WARM AND BECOMING MORE HUMID... There has been quite an array of cloud type this morning. An overcast layer of Alto-Cumulus Castellanous (ACC) graced the sky early this morning with a few Status/Strato-Cumulus (ST/SC) drifting by underneath. By 11pm the mid level overcast has broken up unveiling two broken layers of high thin Cirrus (CI), one at 25,000ft and the other around 30,000ft. Meanwhile the middle layer now consists of of both Alto-Cumulus Castellanous and Alto-Cumulus Standing Lenticular (ACSL). The low ST/SC has now transformed into small Cumulus (CU) thanks to surface heating from the sun allowing for the process of convection. Temperatures which bottomed out at 50 degrees overnight (just before midnight EST) has been rising steadily through the morning hours with readings at 8am of 57 degrees, and 11 am up to 68 degrees. The dewpoint has also been steadily rising with readings in the lower 50s early this morning, but now up into the upper 50s getting close to 60 degrees. Today's observations: 8 A.M. BHO SA 1155 E120 OVC 25 170/57/54/2314/003/ FEW SC ALQDS ACC ALQDS SUN OCCLY DMLY VSBL HAZY/ 8/58// 56003 6000/ 70000 10057 20051 11 A.M. BHO SA 1455 170 BKN 250 -BKN 300 -BKN 20 177/68/57/2508/005/ FEW SML CU W-NW AND E-SE FEW ACSL/ACC WNW-N WND LGT HAZY/ 8/281/ 51007 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY MAY 20: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....75 NORMAL.....68 HAZEN.....74.8 @ 2:48 p.m. MIN.....50 NORMAL.....48 HAZEN.....50.1 @ 11:09 p.m. ** MEAN....63 NORMAL.....58 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....+ 5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....+104 (+5.0 DEGREES/DAY) ** eastern standard time HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR YESTERDAY....... 2 DEPARTURE....- 5 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH......114 DEPARTURE....- 91 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON....6107 DEPARTURE....- 124 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST SEASON...6662 DIFFERENCE...- 555 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)(ALL TIMES LOCAL DAYLIGHT TIME) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........29 SSW AT 4:13 p.m. AEROVANE.........32 SSW AT 4:13 p.m. ASOS.............29 SSW AT 4:14 p.m. DAVIS............N/a FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........22 SSW AT 4:58 p.m. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE........22 S AT 4:58 p.m. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION... 11.2 S ASOS..............11.5 DAVIS.............N/a PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EDT) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M...TRACE DEPARTURE....-0.12 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.94 DEPARTURE....-0.55 ASOS..............1.94 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........19.29 DEPARTURE....-1.15 ASOS.............17.75 2003-2004 SNOWFALL (INCHES) TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............58.0 DEPARTURE....+1.7 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/ 0/769/91 39 MPH SSW 5/2 72/56/64/+12/0.06/127/15 45 MPH S Aerovane 49 MPH S 5/3 61/47/54/ +1/0.66/000/00 35 MPH S 5/4 58/39/49/ -4/0.32/725/85 40 MPH WNW Aerovane 46 MPH WNW 5/5 65/38/52/ -1/ T/453/53 37 MPH S 5/6 70/45/58/ +4/ 0/711/83 28 MPH SSW 5/7 84/48/66/+12/0.04/730/85 40 MPH W Aerovane 41 MPH W 5/8 63/41/52/ -2/ 0/621/72 28 MPH S 5/9 55/44/50/-5/0.33/043/05 30 MPH SW 5/10 70/49/60/+5/0/632/73 29 MPH S 5/11 86/53/70/+15/T/573/66 27 MPH WNW 5/12 87/58/73/+17/0/513/59 24 MPH W 5/13 72/43/58/+2/T/610/70 31 MPH NE 5/14 77/45/61/+4/T/533/61 26 MPH S 5/15 88/58/73/+16/0/745/85 35 MPH WSW 5/16 68/49/59/+2/0.08/009/01 30 MPH ENE 5/17 69/49/59/+2/0/415/47 25 MPH S 5/18 71/51/61/+3/0.42/132/15 33 MPH SSW Aerovane 37 MPH SSW 5/19 69/54/62/+4/0.02/.../.. 25 MPH NNW Aerovane 29 MPH NNW 5/20 75/50/63/+5/0.00/.../.. 29 MPH SSW Aerovave 32 MPH SSW 5/21 Morning low 51 degrees, RF: T DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MAY 21 HIGH 92F IN 1921 LOW 35F IN 1907 PRECIP 1.61 INS IN 1954 PEAK GUST 69 MPH NW IN 1996 RECORDS FOR MAY 22 HIGH 93F IN 1911 LOW 35F IN 1907 PRECIP 3.75 INCHES IN 1920 PEAK GUST 49e MPH SSW IN 1947 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Matt Douglas