BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2005 ALL TIMES EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED TODAY'S DISCUSSION.....2 P.M. THE CLOCKS HAVE BEEN SET AHEAD ONE HOUR....but NOT HERE at the Observatory where we remain on standard the year round. For these reports, I'll be using Eastern Daylight Time for the times of occurrences. Other observers may opt to stay with standard time for their daily climatic reports. Please refer to time being used at the start of these daily reports. THE PONDS HAVE THAWED AT THE LATE DATE OF APRIL 2 The ice cover on the nearby ponds was beginning to melt and a very small amount of open water was seen on March 31. But by late Saturday, April 2, the ice had melted completely out of both nearby ponds, Ponkapoag and Houghtons; the latest date out for Ponkapoag since 1994, on April 3. In the case of Houghtons Pond it thawed on April 4, 2001, so this year did not quite equal that late date of thawing. Bare in mind that the average dates for ice out of the ponds is March 11 and March 17 respectively. MARCH 2005 SUMMARY Temp Max: 40.2 F Temp Min: 24.7 F Temp Mean: 32.5 F (max+min)/2 Temp Mean: 32.4 F (24 hr corr.) Precipitation: 6.12 inches Max. in 24 hours: 2.51 [ 28-29th] Snowfall: 25.0 inches Greatest in 24 hours: 12.1 ins. [ 28th-1st ] Av. wind speed: 13.6 mph [corr] Prevailing wind direction: W 24% Fastest mile: 43 mph WSW on 9th Peak Gust: 63 mph WNW 8th Aerovane Gust: 66 mph WNW 8th Sunshine: 207.7 hours or 56% of possible TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 4/4/2005 MON 8 a.m. cloudy with 35 miles visibility and 39 deg; dewpoint 36; wind wsw at 13 gusting 21 mph; six hourly min. temp. 37; 24 hourly precip: 0.01 inch BHO SA 1155 E16 OVC 35 998/39/36/2411G18/952/ FEW LWR STFRA CIG RGD VSBY NE 45/ 8/7// 53018 6000/ ASOS 70001 MANUAL 70001 10039 20037 11 a.m. cloudy with a few breaks visibility of 80 miles; temp. 45; dewpoint 34; wind wsw at 12 gusting 20 mph; 3 hourly precip: a trace BHO SA 1455 25 SCT E30 OVC 80 017/45/34/2410G17/958/ HIER CLDS VSB FEW SML BINOVC MTN INCLD 70 NW WND 22V27/ 8/57/ 53019 6000/ 2 p.m. broken clouds ocnl overcast with breaks and 80 miles visibility; temp. 50 deg; dewpoint 33; wind wsw at 16 gusting 27 mph; six hourly max. temp. 52 deg; six hourly precip: a trace BHO SA 1755 E38 BKN 75 BKN 80 026/50/33/2414G23/961/ ACSL ALQDS WND 21V27/ 8/440 53009 6000/ 10052 20039 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY APRIL 03: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....53 NORMAL.....51 HAZEN 52.7 @ 3:12 a.m. MIN.....39 NORMAL.....33 HAZEN 38.6 @ 11:57 p.m. (standard time) MEAN....46 NORMAL.....42 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...... + 4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......+ 13 (+4.0 DEGREES/DAY) PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M....0.01 DEPARTURE....-0.14 ASOS..............0.01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.69 DEPARTURE....+1.24 ASOS..............1.69 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........18.15 DEPARTURE....+4.22 TOTAL FOR ASOS FOR THE YEAR...............17.12 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE....- 0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH.............. 0.0 DEPARTURE....- 0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............119.2 DEPARTURE....+61.6 TOTAL SNOW ON THE GROUND..................NONE YESTERDAY'S PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........54 SE AT 3:33 A.M. AEROVANE.........55 SE AT 3:33 A.M. ASOS.............52 SE AT 3:33 A.M. DAVIS............52 ESE AT 3:33 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY......... 38 SE AT 3:33 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......38 SE AT 3:33 A.M. MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE......38 ESE AT 3:33 A.M. OUR AVERAGE SPEED AND DIRECTION.....19.5 SE ASOS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION..........19.6 SE [140 deg] DAVIS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION.........20.5 SE [140 deg] THE PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 2005...... CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED HERE ENDING MIDNIGHT STANDARD TIME 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 29/23/26/-6/0.53/3.6/000/00 52 MPH NNE Aero 52 MPH NNE 3/2 33/20/27/-5/T/T/264/39 42 MPH W Aero 45 MPH W 3/3 28/15/22/-10/0/0/640/94 43 MPH W Aero 43 MPH W 3/4 31/12/22/-11/0/0/561/82 40 MPH W Aero 44 MPH W 3/5 39/18/29/-4/0/0/679/99 29 MPH W 3/6 40/24/32/-1/0/0/345/50 42 MPH SSW Aero 44 MPH SSW 3/7 47/33/40/+7/0/0/201/29 45 MPH S Aero 50 MPH SSE 3/8 42/12/27/-7/1.20/5.7/000/00 63 MPH WNW Aero 66 MPH WNW 3/9 21/06/14/-20/0.02/0.3/663/95 54 MPH W Aero 58 MPH W 3/10 29/11/20/-14/0/0/673/96 29 MPH WSW 3/11 32/18/26/-10/0.07/1.0/134/19 29 MPH E 3/12 34/28/31/-4/1.19/8.9/000/00 27 MPH NE 3/13 37/25/31/-4/0.01/0.1/291/41 25 MPH W 3/14 39/21/30/-6/0/0/669/94 31 MPH WNW 3/15 44/24/34/-2/0/0/512/72 30 MPH WNW 3/16 43/26/35/-1/0/0/675/94 29 MPH W 3/17 43/23/33/-4/0/0/606/84 25 MPH WNW 3/18 43/29/36/-1/0/0/506/70 27 MPH WNW 3/19 45/25/35/-2/0/0/697/96 28 MPH WNW Aero 31 MPH WNW 3/20 48/28/38/0/T/0/365/50 27 MPH SSW 3/21 41/33/37/-1/0/0/007/01 21 MPH NNE 3/22 52/29/41/+3/0/0/720/98 29 MPH W 3/23 42/30/36/-2/0.12/1.0/022/03 36 MPH ENE 3/24 37/31/34/-5/0.47/4.4/037/05 40 MPH N Aero 41 MPH NNE 3/25 47/30/39/0/0/0/461/62 30 MPH W 3/26 40/26/33/-6/0/0/709/95 22 MPH 3/27 52/28/40/0/0/0/705/94 24 MPH SSW 3/28 42/32/37/-3/2.15/0/000/00 27 MPH N 3/29 47/38/43/+3/0.36/0/000/00 38 MPH NNW 3/30 52/34/43/+2/0/0/682/90 33 MPH N 3/31 48/35/42/+1/0/0/632/83 25 MPH NE There were NO NEW DAILY RECORDS set for March.... THE PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR APRIL 2005...... CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED HERE ENDING MIDNIGHT STANDARD TIME 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 4/1 56/36/46/+5/0.01/0/.../.. 23 MPH SE 4/2 56/35/46/+4/N/A/0/000/.. 53 MPH SE 4/3 53/39/46/+4/N/A/0/.../.. 54 MPH SE Aero 55 MPH SE 4/4 morning low temp. 37 deg and precip: 0.01 inch DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): Daily PEAK GUST records are for the period 1940-2004. Temperature and precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2004. All estimated gusts are marked with an 'e'. RECORDS FOR APRIL 4 HIGH 71 IN 1950 LOW 12 IN 1954 PRECIP 1.45 IN. IN 1987 SNOWFALL 3.7 IN. IN 1975 PEAK GUST 80 MPH WNW IN 1963 RECORDS FOR APRIL 5 HIGH 81 IN 1928 LOW 15 IN 1995 PRECIP 2.15 IN. IN 1987 SNOWFALL 4.0 IN. IN 1898 PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1963 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling