BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA ALL TIMES EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME TUESDAY AUGUST 16 2005 MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES FOLLOW VERY WARM FIRST TWO WEEKS OF AUGUST--AVERAGED 6.3 DEGREES ON WARM SIDE TOTAL RAINFALL FOR THREE DAY WEEKEND EVENT WAS 3.42 INCHES Monday's heavy low overcast combined with northeast winds to hold the high temperature at only 64 degrees, a dramatic turnaround from 90 degrees on Sunday and 94 on Saturday. Also, Saturday's low temperature of 75 degrees was a new record high minimum temperature for August 13; the previous record was 72 degrees in 2002. Thunderstorms over the weekend brought 0.34 inch on Saturday evening and 2.82 inches for 24 hours ending 8 a.m. on Monday morning. Over two inches of that total fell in about 40 minutes Sunday afternoon during a torrential downpour. Winds were not a factor in the thunderstorms here with peak gusts only around 32 mph. Lightning apparently hit the internet receiving antenna on the Observatory taking out our internet at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday evening, August 13th. Repairs were being made today. SEVERE WEATHER EVENT 10 MILES EAST OF BLUE HILL AT HINGHAM, MA ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2005 At our Hingham NWS cooperative weather station a total of 5.35 inches of rain fell on Sunday afternoon between about 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. This violent rain event can be termed a 100-year storm for short period rainfall. There's benn nothing close to that rate of intense rainfall in the last 50 years of records. In fact, the 24-hour amount of 5.76 inches ending 8 p.m. August 14, is the third greatest amount for any observational day on record for the Hingham station. In addition to the flash flood producing rainfall, a microburst occurred two miles southeast of the official station with wind gusts estimated from 60 to 80 mph taking down large trees, both broken and uprooted, on Main Street. Radar indicated a very rapidly forming series of strong to severe convective echoes formed along a west to east line from Sharon-Stoughton eastward across Norfolk and northern Plymouth Counties starting around 2 p.m. and entraining for several hours. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS...... 8 A.M. broken low stratus clouds plus some high clouds and visibility of 2 miles in fog slowly dissipating; temp. 62; dewpoint 60; wind north at 04 mph; six hourly min. temp. 59; 24 hourly rainfall 0.26 inch... BHO SA 1155 E3 BKN 180 BKN 250 BKN 2F 215/62/60/3603/017/ STRA DRFTG BLO SMT FEW CC FG/STRA SLWLY DSSPTNG/ 8/641 51001 MANUAL 70026 ASOS 70026 10062 20059 11 A.M. broken high cloudiness with visibility 30 miles; temp. 68; dewpoint 60; wind ne at 05 mph and light and variable BHO SA 1455 180 SCT 200 SCT 220 -BKN 250 -BKN 30 209/68/60/0404/015/ SC DSNT ALQDS XCPT N AC CHAOTIC ALQDS DENSE CI FEW PTCHS SNW VIRGA THN K LYR W-N WND L/V/ 8/592 56006 2 P.M. high thin overcast with dense clouds s-w breaks in overcast nw-ne-sse; visibility 45 miles; temp 73; dewpoint 62; wind n at 08 mph variable nw to ne; six hourly max. temp. 74 deg. BHO SA 1755 150 SCT 180 SCT 200 SCT 250 -BKN 300 -OVC 45 192/73/62/3607/010/ FEW CUFRA/CU ALQDS LWR AC SW-W AC CHAOTIC DENSE CI ALQDS BINOVC DSNT NW-NE-SSE WND 32V05/ 8/192 MANUAL 56017 10074 20062 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY AUGUST 15: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.... .64 NORMAL.....79 HAZEN MAX. 64.4 @ 4:25 P.M. MIN..... 60 NORMAL.....61 HAZEN MIN 60.2 late evening MEAN.....62 NORMAL.....70 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....- 8 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....+ 83 [ +5.3 deg. daily ] PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........28 N AT 8:46 A.M. ** AEROVANE.......................... 28 N AT 10:37 A.M. ** ASOS................................... N/A DAVIS.....................................N/A ** last of several occurrences.... FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY........... 18 NNE @ 7:45 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..... N/A MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..... N/A AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION... 11.0 NNE ASOS........................................................ N/A DAVIS....................................................... N/A * N/A = not available due storm related internet problems and ASOS connection problem PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EDT) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M....0.26 DEPARTURE....+0.13 ASOS.............. 0.26 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR AUGUST.............4.68 DEPARTURE....+2.76 ASOS..............4.63 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........38.21 DEPARTURE....+7.03 ASOS.............37.03* *EXCLUDES 3.19 INCHES OF ERRONEOUS PRECIPITATION RECORDED FROM 1/23-1/28. PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 2005......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 8/1 85/62/74/+2/0.72/416/48 32 WMW Aero 36 MPH WNW TSTM 8/2 87/65/76/+4/0.03/821/95 21 W 8/3 87/67/77/+5/0/578/67 20 WNW 8/4 85/66/76/+4/0/800/93 25 SE 8/5 95/67/81/+9/0.49/515/60 51 WSW TSTM Aero 50 MPH WSW 8/6 82/65/74/+2/0/.../.. 21 NNE 8/7 85/63/74/+3/0/.../.. 22 S 8/8 92/66/79/+8/0/.../.. 23 S 8/9 87/70/79/+8/0.02/221/26 28 S 8/10 88/69/79/+8/0/670/79 24 SSE 8/11 90/69/80/+9/T/.../.. 23 NE 8/12 89/68/79/+8/T/.../.. 28 MPH S 8/13 94/75/85/+14/0.34/.../.. 27 MPH SW TSTM 8/14 90/64/77/+7/2.79/.../.. 32 MPH E TSTM Aero 32 MPH E 8/15 64/60/62/-8/0.29/000/00 28 MPH N 8/16 morning low temp. 59; normal low 61 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR AUGUST 16 HIGH 95F IN 1944 LOW 50F IN 1927 PRECIP 1.47 INCHES IN 1926 PEAK GUST 45e MPH N IN 1951 RECORDS FOR AUGUST 17 HIGH 97F IN 1944 LOW 48F IN 1902 PRECIP 2.17 INCHES IN 1998 PEAK GUST 50e MPH SSW IN 1952, 50 MPH WNW IN 1962 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling