BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2005 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME Today's discussion....11 a.m. WARMING TREND BEGINS TODAY.... A long awaited warming trend started today with temperatures rising into the 40's. The average maximum temperature for the month to date is only 33 degrees; normal for December is 39 degrees. The monthly mean is now 5.7 degrees colder than normal. 7 A.M. overcast with many small breaks and hazy and visibility 20 miles; temp. 33; dewpoint 21; wind SSW 16 gusting 23 MPH; six hourly min. temp. 30 deg; snow depth 1 inch.. BHO SA 1155 E100 OVC 20 131/33/21/2114G20/992/ NMRS SML BINOVC/THN SPTS IOVC HAZY/ 8/07/ 4/001 55003 10033 20030 10 A.M. high thin broken clouds with 20 miles visibility and hazy; temp. 39; dewpoint 23; wind SSW 13 MPH... BHO SA 1455 220 SCT 250 -BKN 300 -BKN 20 132/38/23/2111/992/ FEW AC/ACSL PTCHS DENSE CI HAZY/ 8/042 50001 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....30 NORMAL.....37 ASOS.....30.4 @ 4:01 p.m. MIN.....18 NORMAL.....22 ASOS.....18.0 @ 7:06 a.m. MEAN....24 NORMAL.....29 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......- 5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......-121 [- 5.7 deg per day] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..........41 DEPARTURE....+ 5 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.........838 DEPARTURE....+121 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.......1903 DEPARTURE...- 97 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE..2000 DIFFERENCE... 0 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.........28 SSW AT 11:50 P.M. AEROVANE..........31 SSW AT 11:50 P.M. ASOS..............26 SSW AT 11:50 P.M. DAVIS.............28 S AT 6:41 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........20 S 6:35 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE........21 SSW AT 11:57 P.M. MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.......22 S AT 6:41 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...12.4 WSW ASOS............12.9 SW [220 deg] DAVIS...........12.1 SW [230 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE....-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........2.35 DEPARTURE....-0.87 ASOS..............2.27 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........64.62 DEPARTURE...+14.89 ASOS.............62.70* *EXCLUDES 3.19 INCHES OF ERRONEOUS PRECIPITATION RECORDED FROM 1/23-1/28. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE....- 0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............13.1 DEPARTURE....+ 5.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............15.2 DEPARTURE....+ 5.0 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 2005......CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER: 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 12/1 43/35/39/+3/0/0/212/38 29 MPH N 12/2 41/31/36/0/0/0/217/39 46 MPH WSW Aero 51 MPH WSW 12/3 33/26/30/-5/0/0/534/96 46 MPH W Aero 50 MPH W 12/4 28/22/25/-10/0.24/2.2/000/00 22 MPH W 12/5 32/21/27/-8/0/0/061/11 23 MPH WSW 12/6 33/23/28/-6/T/0.1/160/29 31 MPH W Aero 36 MPH W 12/7 28/16/22/-12/T/T/479/87 44 MPH WNW Aero 50 MPH WNW 12/8 31/14/23/-10/0/0/545/99 25 MPH NW 12/9 32/22/27/-6/1.23/10.8/000/00 53 MPH NW Aero 63 MPH NW TSTM/SLEET/GLAZE 12/10 34/21/28/-5/0/0/367/67 30 MPH S 12/11 40/27/34/+2/0/0/493/90 27 MPH SSW 12/12 38/21/30/-2/0/0/241/44 25 MPH W 12/13 21/09/15/-17/T/T/361/66 32 MPH WNW Aero 35 MPH WNW 12/14 23/04/14/-17/0/0/513/94 24 MPH NW 12/15 32/07/20/-11/0/0/464/85 21 MPH E 12/16 48/27/38/+7/0.88/T/000/00 55 MPH ESE Aero 61 MPH ESE/SLEET/GLAZE 12/17 37/26/32/+1/0/0/469 86 25 MPH W 12/18 33/23/28/-2/0/0/213/39 21 MPH W 12/19 31/21/26/-4/T/T/164/30 32 MPH WSW Aero 35 MPH WSW 12/20 31/17/24/-6/0/0/.../.. 27 MPH WSW 12/21 28/15/22/-8/0/0/.../.. 28 MPH WSW 12/22 30/18/24/-5/0/0/.../.. 28 MPH SSW 12/23 morning low temp. 29 deg; normal low now 22 deg. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): A NEW DAILY EXTREME HAS BEEN SET FOR DECEMBER 2005 12/9 - A NEW MAXIMUM DAILY SNOWFALL OF 10.8 INCHES; the previous record was 6.0 inches in 2001 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 23 HIGH 62 IN 1990 LOW -01 IN 1989 PRECIP 1.70 INS. IN 1947 SNOWFALL 11.9 INS. IN 1947 PEAK GUST 63 NE IN 1994 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 24 HIGH 58F IN 1996 LOW -06F IN 1943 PRECIP 2.21 INS. IN 1994 SNOWFALL 12.3 INS. IN 1961 PEAK GUST 79e MPH SE IN 1941 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling