BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2005 TODAY'S DISCUSSION..... A WEEK OF VERY DRY WEATHER GIVES WAY TO A MUCH MORE NORMAL SEASONAL CHANGE TO MORE MOIST AIR...MILDER TEMPERATURES AND THE FIRST PRECIPITATION IN A WEEK... Spring began (the Vernal Equinox) yesterday at 7:34 a.m. and temperatures rose to highs in the upper 40's here (48) for the highest reading of the month to date. The day averaged right on the normal of 38 degrees and was only the second time this month that a day did not average colder than normal. March continues to average more than 5 degrees colder than normal daily. After a week of very dry air with dewpoints in the teens, the first precipitation in a week occurred late Sunday afternoon between 4 and 5 p.m. in the form of very light rain showers. Dewpoints rose steadily from the teens during the morning to the lower 30's last evening. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 3/21/2005 MON 7 a.m. overcast with 50 miles visibility and temp. 35; dewpoint 26; wind from north at 13 mph; six hourly min. temp. 34; 24 hourly precipitation a trace; total snow on ground 6 inches... BHO SA 1155 E50 BKN 65 OVC 50 134/35/26/0111/993/ FEW THN SPTS AND SML BINOVC OVHD VSBY NW 60/ 8/57/ 4/006 53003 10036 20034 10 a.m. overcast with 30 miles visibility and hazy; temp. 38; dewpoint 30; wind north at 12 mph... BHO SA 1455 E42 OVC 30 139/38/30/0110/994/ FEW LWR SC E-SE BRGHT SPTS IOVC VIRGA SW-W SUN DMLY VSB HAZY VSBY E 20 SE-S 15 WNW 45 WND 34V04/ 8/5// 51005 1 p.m. overcast with sun dimly visible and 35 miles visibility and 45 miles to the west-northwest and hazy; temp. 39; dewpoint 28; wind ne at 12 mph variable nne to e and six hourly max. temp. 41 degrees... BHO SA 1755 E50 OVC 35 133/39/28/0510/992/ BRGHT SPTS IOVC VIRGA/RASH/SNSH SW-W SUN DMLY VSBY HAZY VSBY WNW 45 WND 02V08 GRDLY VEERING/ 8/5// 58006 10041 20035 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY MARCH 20: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....48 NORMAL.....46 HAZEN 48.2 @ 1:06 P.M. MIN.....28 NORMAL.....29 HAZEN 28.0 @ 5:07 A.M. MEAN....38 NORMAL.....38 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...... 0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......-105 (-5.5 DEGREES/DAY) PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....trace DEPARTURE....-0.16 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.02 DEPARTURE....-0.05 ASOS..............2.81 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........13.36 DEPARTURE....+1.45 ASOS.............12.47 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH.............. 19.6 DEPARTURE....+10.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............113.8 DEPARTURE....+59.4 TOTAL SNOW ON THE GROUND.................... 6 YESTERDAY'S PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........27 SSW AT 1:01 P.M. AEROVANE.........28 SSW AT 1:01 P.M. ASOS.............23 SSW AT 1:01 P.M. DAVIS............25 SSW AT 1:01 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY......... 17 SW AT 12:18 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......17 SW AT 1:34 P.M. MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE......18 SW AT 1:12 P.M. YESTERDAY'S AVERAGE WIND SPEEDS... OUR AVERAGE SPEED AND DIRECTION.....10.2 SW ASOS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION..........10.5 NW [310 deg. ] DAVIS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION.........10.3 W [270 deg. ] THE PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 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 Morning low of 34 degrees... There are no new daily records set for March to date.... DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 21 HIGH 81 IN 1921 LOW 2 IN 1885 PRECIP 2.67 INCHES IN 1974 SNOWFALL 10.6 INCHES IN 1958 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NE IN 1958 RECORDS FOR MARCH 22 HIGH 71 IN 1948 LOW 3 IN 1885 PRE 3.48 INS IN 2001 SNOW 8.7 INS 1967 WIND 84e MPH E IN 1977 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling