BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2005 TODAY'S DISCUSSION..... Yesterday's high temperature of 52 was our warmest of the month to date and the day averaged above normal by 3 degrees for the first warmer than normal day since March 7 at plus 7 degrees. ALTOSTRATUS WITH SUN DIMLY VISIBLE AND FADING... A CLASSIC SKY...HARBINGER OF A STORM ON THE WAY... High clouds were thickening and becoming an overcast of altostratus with the disc of the sun fading early this afternoon. The air is very dry with a dewpoint in the low teens and relative humidity near 30%. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 3/23/2005 WED 7 a.m. high thin overcast with 55 miles visibility and 35 deg; dewpoint 21; wind nw at 13 mph; six hourly min. temp. 33; snow on ground depth 2 inches BHO SA 1155 220 SCT 250 -OVC 55 202/35/21/3111/013/ BINOVC ALG HRZN DSNT N-NE WND GRDLY VEERING/ 8/007 4/002 51029 10037 20033 10 a.m. high overcast with 70 miles visibility and 39 deg; dewpoint 18; wind nw at 12 mph BHO SA 1455 E180 OVC 70 211/39/18/3210/015/ SML BINOVC DSNT NE SUN DMLY VSB/ 8/01/ 50009 1 p.m. overcast of altostratus about 15,000 ft; visibility 90 miles; temp. 40; dewpoint 12; wind ene at 09 mph; six hourly max. temp. 42 deg. BHO SA 1755 E150 OVC 90 200/40/12/0608/012/ HIER CLDS VSB DSNT NW-NE SUN DMLY VSB VIRGA ALQDS WND 01V08/ 8/01/ 58011 10042 20035 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY MARCH 22: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....52 NORMAL.....46 HAZEN 52.0 @ 3:20 P.M. MIN.....29 NORMAL.....29 HAZEN 29.0 @ 6:10 A.M. MEAN....41 NORMAL.....38 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...... + 3 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......-103 (-4.9 DEGREES/DAY) PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE....-0.16 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.02 DEPARTURE....-0.37 ASOS..............2.81 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........13.36 DEPARTURE....+1.13 ASOS.............12.47 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH.............. 19.6 DEPARTURE....+10.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............113.8 DEPARTURE....+58.8 TOTAL SNOW ON THE GROUND.................... 2 YESTERDAY'S PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........29 WNW AT 2:50 P.M. AEROVANE.........29 WNW AT 2:50 P.M. ASOS.............25 WNW AT 2:51 P.M. DAVIS............27 WNW AT 2:50 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY......... 20 W AT 2:52 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......20 W AT 2:52 P.M. MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE......22 WNW AT 2:51 P.M. YESTERDAY'S AVERAGE WIND SPEEDS... OUR AVERAGE SPEED AND DIRECTION.....12.5 WNW ASOS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION..........13.2 W [280 deg.] DAVIS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION.........12.9 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 41/33/37/-1/0/0/007/01 21 MPH NNE 3/22 52/29/41/+3/0/0/720/98 29 MPH W 3/23 morning low temp. 33; time 5:00 a.m. 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 23 HIGH 78 IN 1938 LOW 3 IN 1934 PRE 1.58 INS IN 1903 SNOW 3.0 INS IN 1977 WIND 78e MPH W IN 1940 RECORDS FOR MARCH 24 HIGH 70 DEGREES IN 1920 LOW 6 DEGREES IN 1906 PRECIP 1.51 INCHES IN 1956 SNOWFALL 12.3 INCHES IN 1956 PEAK GUST 71 MPH W IN 1968 TODAY'S REPORT BY: Robert Skilling