BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2005 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME [unless otherwise noted] JANUARY SNOWFALL NOW 5TH GREATEST ON RECORD... BLIZZARD OF 2005 WAS 9TH GREATEST SNOWSTORM ON RECORD... 14 CONSECUTIVE DAYS AT OR BELOW FREEZING...LONGEST IN 15 YEARS... The final snowfall for the 22-23 January snowstorm was 20.5 inches, which ranks this storm as the ninth greatest snowstorm in our 120-year record. This is also the third 20"+ snowstorm in the past three seasons, which has never before happened in 120 years. An additional 7.5 inches of snowfall fell on January 26. This brings the January total to 44.8 inches, which ranks this month as the fifth snowiest January on record. The seasonal snowfall is now up to 68.8 inches, well above the normal for an entire season. The snow cover on the summit reached it's greatest depth this week at 24 inches on 26-27 January. As of 7 AM on Saturday, the mean snow depth is 18 inches. Through Friday, we have had 14 consecutive days at or below 32 degrees. This is the longest such stretch since 19 consecutive days on December 12-30, 1989. There was a strong temperature inversion in the area this morning as evidenced by the low temperature on the summit of 8 and a low temperature at Norwood of -11. The low at the Worcester airport was 9 degrees. The inversion was sufficient to cause looming (mirages) of the mountains as viewed from the Observatory after sunrise this morning. The visibility was very high this morning at 85 miles before the smoke layer trapped below the inversion dispersed upward as the inversion dissipated. The access road to the summit, which had remained unplowed since last Sunday, has now been opened and sanded. As of 2 PM, the wind has shifter around to SW, and the temperature has climbed to 32 degrees under a sunny sky. SNOWIEST JANUARYS AT BLUE HILL: 1) 56.3" IN 1958 2) 48.0" IN 1904 3) 47.6" IN 1996 4) 46.0" IN 1966 5) 44.8" IN 2005 6) 44.5" IN 1923 GREATEST BLUE HILL SNOWSTORMS: 1) 38.7" Feb 24-28, 1969 2) 30.3" Mar 3-5, 1960 3) 30.1" Feb 6-7, 1978 4) 30.0" Mar 31 - Apr 1, 1997 5) 24.7" Feb 17-18, 2003 6) 24.3" Dec 5-7, 2003 7) 22.2" Feb 16-17, 1958 8) 21.0" Feb 9-10, 1969 9) 20.5" Jan 22-23, 2005 10) 20.3" Dec 12, 1960 11) 20.0" Jan 31 - Feb 1, 1898 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear with a few altocumulus Temperature: 9F, Dew point: -7F, Wind: W 12 mph Sea-level pressure: 30.54 inches, falling Visibility: 85 miles, with looming of mountains to NW BHO SA 1155 CLR 85 342/9/-7/2710/054/ FEW AC DSNT NNW-N K LYR BLO INVSN NE-E LOOMING OF MTNS WNW-NW/ 8/030 4/018 56014 10010 20008 10 A.M. Weather: Clear with a few cirrus and SC Temperature: 19F, Dew Point: -4F, Wind: W 8 mph Visibility: 85 miles Sea-level pressure: 30.48 inches falling BHO SA 1455 CLR 85 320/19/-4/2707/048/ CI DSNT SW-NW FEW CI DSNT E FEW SC N DNS K LYR BLO INVSN SW-E LOOMING OF MTNS WNW WND LGT/ 8/501 58020 1 P.M. Weather: Thin scattered cirrus Temperature: 30F, Dew Point: -1F, Wind: SW 6 mph Visibility: 75 miles BHO SA 1755 250 -SCT 75 280/30/-1/2407/036/ K LYR ALG HRZN NNW-E WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/001 58040 10030 20009 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 28: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....20 NORMAL.....34 ASOS.....19 AT 3:46 P.M. MIN.....-3 NORMAL.....18 ASOS.....-2 AT 7:30 A.M. MEAN.....9 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....-17 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....-51 (-2.0 DEGREES/DAY) HEATING DEGREE DAY INFORMATION TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR FRIDAY.........56 DEPARTURE....+17 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH....1143 DEPARTURE....+53 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON...3360 DEPARTURE....-59 TOTAL HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR LAST YEAR....3462 DIFFERENCE..-102 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........28 NW AT 2:32 A.M. AEROVANE.........27 NW AT 2:32 A.M. ASOS.............24 NW AT 2:32 A.M. DAVIS............N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..........20 NW AT 12:04 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......20 NW AT 12:05 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..12.3 NW ASOS...........12.5 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..........6.30 DEPARTURE....+1.83 ASOS..............9.02* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........6.30 DEPARTURE....+1.83 ASOS..............9.02* *ASOS WEIGHING RAIN GAGE HAS RECORDED EXTRANEOUS PRECIPITATION SINCE 23 JANUARY. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M............0 DEPARTURE.....-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............44.8 DEPARTURE....+30.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............68.8 DEPARTURE....+40.6 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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 1/1 49/32/41/+14/0/0/538/98 45 MPH W 1/2 39/26/33/+6/0.05/0/297/54 36 MPH S 1/3 51/39/45/+18/0.26/0/006/01 40 MPH SSW 1/4 42/36/39/+12/0.41/0/006/01 25 MPH NNE 1/5 36/24/30/+3/0.15/1.8/0/0 22 MPH NNE 1/6 35/22/29/+3/0.89/5.2/0.0 30 MPH NE 1/7 36/26/31/+5/0/0/0/0/.../.. 44 MPH W Aero 46 MPH W 1/8 32/26/29/+3/0.86/1.0/000/00 25 MPH N 1/9 29/21/25/-1/0/0/011/02 22 MPH NNW 1/10 38/28/33/+7/T/T/017/03 36 MPH SSW Aero 42 MPH SSW 1/11 32/26/29/+3/0.05/0.5/106/19 27 MPH WSW 1/12 37/26/32/+6/0.56/1.5/000/00 33 MPH ENE 1/13 56/30/43/+17/T/0/000/00 46 MPH S 1/14 61/30/46/+20/0.63/T/000/00 68 MPH S Aero 67 MPH S 1/15 30/21/26/0/0/0/277/49 31 MPH NW 1/16 28/19/24/-2/0.28/2.2/000/00 36 MPH N Aero 38 MPH N 1/17 23/08/16/-10/0.07/0.6/097/17 35 MPH WNW 1/18 11/00/6/-20/0/0/.../.. 38 MPH W 1/19 24/-3/11/-14/0.20/2/8/.../.. 23 MPH WSW 1/20 26/12/19/-6/0.08/1.2/.../.. 37 MPH W 1/21 12/-3/5/-20/0/0/.../.. 36 MPH WNW 1/22 24/-7/9/-16/../../.../.. 58 MPH NE 1/23 24/0/12/-13/../../.../.. 62 MPH NE 1/24 21/-2/1-/-16/../../.../.. 37 MPH WNW 1/25 24/11/18/-8/../../.../.. 31 MPH WNW 1/26 26/13/20/-6/../../.../.. 1/27 13/1/7/-19/../../.../.. 35 MPH NNW 1/28 20/-3/9/-17/../../.../.. 28 MPH NW 1/29 ...overnight low 8 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 29 HIGH 66F IN 2002 LOW -11F IN 1888 PRECIP 1.48 INS. IN 1973 SNOWFALL 8.0 INS. IN 1943 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NW IN 1973 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 30 HIGH 60F IN 1914 LOW -8F IN 1948 PRECIP 1.12 INS. IN 1925 SNOWFALL 6.5 INS. IN 1986 PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1962 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Mike Iacono