BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2005 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME [unless otherwise noted] 27-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLIZZARD OF 1978 FEBRUARY CONTINUES WITH THE ABOUT FACE FROM JANUARY WEATHER... TEMPERATURES RUNNING MUCH ABOVE NORMAL, PRECIPITATION BELOW NORMAL AND SUNSHINE WELL ABOVE THE NORMAL.....MANY VERY SUNNY DAYS TO DATE.... Temperatures were approaching the 50-degree mark early this afternoon after an early morning low of 29, some 10 degrees above normal as we recorded still another morning with a big temperature inversion. Looming of the west-northwest and northwest distant mountains was briefly observable between 7 and 8 a.m. I've noted that the average sea level pressure for the first six days of the mounth has been close to 30.40 inches with continuing high pressure. February continues to be a very mild month averaging more than 5 degrees warmer than normal through the first six days. Sunshine has been abundant too except for a couple of cloudy days. There have been two days with 100% of the possible sunshine while 99% was recorded on a third day. So, far we have 65% of the possible bright sunshine for the month of February to date... TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS.... Today's observations: 2/7/2005 MON 7 a.m. high thin clouds with 25 miles visibility but 60 miles to the northwest; temp. 32/dewpoint 23; wind north at 10 mph; six hourly min temp. 29 degrees., 12 inches of snow on ground. BHO SA 1155 200 SCT 250 -BKN 300 -OVC 25 309/32/23/3509/044/ PTCH DENSE CI SSW-SW INVSN PRSNT THN K LYR ALG HRZN SSW-N-NE PTCHS THN F BLO INVSN VSBY W-NW ABV INVSN 60/ 8/002 4/012 58003 10032 20029 10 a.m. high thin clouds with 25 miles visibility but 70 miles to the northwest; temp. 38; dewpoint 25; wind nnw at 05 mph.. BHO SA 1455 250 -SCT 300 -BKN 25 305/38/25/3404/043/ FEW LWR CI/CC THN K LYR ALG HRZNS DRK K LYR N-NE HAZY VSBY NNE 15 W-NW 70 ABV INVSN/ 8/001 58004 1 p.m. high thin clouds with 40 miles visibility and 46 deg; dewpoint 15; wind wsw at 05 mph; six hourly max. temp. 47 deg. BHO SA 1755 250 -SCT 300 -BKN 40 277/46/15/2404/035/ FEW AC W AND N-NE FEW LWR CI/CCSL THN K LYR ALG HRZNS W-N-ESE DARK K LYR N-NE VSBY NNE 20 NW 70/ 8/041 58028 10047 20031 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 06: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....41 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....30 NORMAL.....19 MEAN....36 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......+9 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......+34 (5.5 DEGREES/DAY) 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..........0.30 DEPARTURE....-0.60 ASOS..............0.29 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........6.54 DEPARTURE....+0.86 ASOS..............6.07 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.7 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH............... 0.3 DEPARTURE.... -3.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR MONTH OF JANUARY 44.8 DEPARTURE....+29.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............69.1 DEPARTURE....+35.8 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........31 N AT 8:44 A.M. AEROVANE.........30 N AT 8:44 A.M. ASOS.............26 N AT 8:44 A.M. DAVIS............28 N AT 8:44 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..........18 NNE AT 9:04 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......18 NNE AT 9:02 A.M. DAVIS MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE AVERAGE......20 N AT 8:46 A.M. OUR AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.. 12.8 MPH N THE ASOS AVERAGE SPEED AND DIRECTION....12.6 MPH NNE [ 020 deg ] THE DAVIS AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR....13.0 MPH N [ 010 deg ] THE PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 2005...... CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED HERE ENDING MIDNIGHT: 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 2/1 38/18/28/+2/0/0/600/100 13 MPH NNW 2/2 35/20/28/+2/0/0/549/91 23 MPH N 2/3 36/20/28/+2/0.28/0.2/012/02 27 MPH NNE 2/4 33/30/32/+6/0.02/0.1/000/00 33 MPH N 2/5 49/30/40/+13/0/0/605/99 30 MPH N 2/6 41/30/36/+9/0/0/613/100 31 MPH N 2/7 morning low temp. 29; normal low now 19 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 7 HIGH 60F IN 1930 LOW -7F IN 1896 PRECIP 2.12 INCHES IN 1983 SNOWFALL 17.1 INCHES IN 1978 [BLIZZARD OF 1978] PEAK GUST 87e MPH SSE IN 1951 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 8 HIGH 60F IN 1933 LOW -9F IN 1934 PRECIP 2.50 INS. IN 1945 SNOWFALL 11.0 INS. IN 1891 PEAK GUST 63e MPH NE IN 1945 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling