BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2005 ALL TIMES EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED TODAY'S DISCUSSION.... AT 2 P.M. ONE OF OUR COLDEST MAYS IN RECORDS CHECKED BACK 40 YEARS.... AND A NOTE OF BLUE HILL TRIVIA FOR TODAY... The cold May continues with yesterday's temperatures averaging 8 degrees below normal. This brings the total negative departure to -71 degrees making the month 4.6 degrees colder than normal daily. This is likely the third coldest May at least through the first half of the month in records checked back almost 40 years. May, 1986, and May, 1966 and 1967, may have been slightly colder. Some Blue Hill trivia for today: The Hazen temperature shelter that we still use was built and first used in July 1887. However, it was originally closer to the building (65 feet to the east) than it is now (130 feet to the northeast). It was moved to its present location on May 17, 1905, or 100 years ago today. So, temperature readings from that spot have now been kept for a century, though the Hazen shelter was not used all year until September 30, 1937, when winter readings from the north window shelter were ended. MJI TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 5/17/2005 TUE 8 a.m. broken clouds with 10 miles visibility with thin fog dissipating; temp. 52; dewpoint 46; wind wnw at 06 mph; six hourly min. temp. 47 BHO SA 1155 60 SCT E80 BKN 10 189/52/46/2905/009/ THN F DSSPTNG HAZY VSBY E-SE 6/ 8/080 53015 10052 20047 11 a.m. broken clouds with 55 miles visibility; temp. 57; dewpoint 35; wind wnw 04 mph BHO SA 1455 E80 BKN 55 195/57/35/2903/011/ FEW CU DSNT SE-SSW FEW ACC VSBY NE-E 20 NW 70 WND L/V/ 8/180 50004 2 p.m. overcast with 55 miles visibility breaks in overcast; temp. 62; dewpoint 38; wind ssw 08 mph six hourly max. temp. 65 BHO SA 1755 E60 OVC 55 178/62/38/2107/006/ BINOVC HAZY NE-SE VSBY NE-E 20 NW 70/ 8/4// 58017 10065 20051 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY MAY 16: TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....57 NORMAL.....67 HAZEN 57.0 @ 5:57 p.m. MIN.....41 NORMAL.....47 HAZEN 41.2 @ 1:09 a.m. MEAN....49 NORMAL.....57 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...... - 8 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR MAY.............- 71 [for the month, -4.6 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M.....trace DEPARTURE....-0.12 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR MAY.................1.97 DEPARTURE....+0.00 PRECIPITATION FOR ASOS 24 HRS ENDING 8 A.M..0.00 ASOS FOR THE MONTH OF MAY........... .......1.92 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR........ .23.06 DEPARTURE....+3.29 TOTAL FOR ASOS FOR THE YEAR.............. .21.95 YESTERDAY'S PEAK GUSTS AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY........21 ENE AT 7:38 P.M. AEROVANE.........22 ESE AT 9:19 P.M. ASOS.............18 E AT 7:38 P.M. DAVIS............18 ESE AT 9:19 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY......... 14 ESE AT 10:41 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.......15 SE AT 10:43 P.M. MAXIMUM 1-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE......14 ESE AT 10:41 P.M. OUR AVERAGE SPEED AND DIRECTION..... 6.8 NNW ASOS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION.......... 7.2 N/A DAVIS AVERAGE AND DIRECTION......... 6.9 NNE [ 020 ] THE PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MAY 2005...... CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED HERE ENDING MIDNIGHT STANDARD TIME DATE MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day ....: Data not yet available 5/1 57/44/51/-1/0.14/118/14 33 MPH WNW 5/2 63/39/51/-1/0.05/593/70 43 MPH S 5/3 58/38/48/-5/0/604/71 30 MPH WSW 5/4 59/40/50/-3/T/400/47 21 MPH E 5/5 60/38/49/-4/0/777/91 23 MPH E 5/6 54/42/48/-6/0.08/103/12 26 MPH NNE 5/7 44/39/42/-12/1.19/000/00 58 MPH N 5/8 47/39/43/-11/0.22/000/00 43 MPH NNW 5/9 52/43/48/-7/0.04/026/03 36 MPH N 5/10 64/46/55/0/0/.../.. 20 MPH E 5/11 75/46/61/+6/0/.../.. 27 MPH S 5/12 60/41/51/-5/0/.../.. 40 MPH NW 5/13 64/35/50/-6/0/.../.. 28 MPH WNW 5/14 64/47/56/-1/T/.../.. 21 MPH E 5/15 58/41/50/-7/0.07/.../.. 24 MPH N 5/16 57/41/49/-8/0.18/.../.. 21 MPH ENE 5/17 morning low temp. 47 @ 5:16 a.m. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MAY 17 HIGH 88F IN 1974, 1977 LOW 34F IN 1956, 1957 PRE 2.07 INS IN 1916 PEAK GUST 52 MPH SW IN 1967, W IN 1974 RECORDS FOR MAY 18 HIGH 88F IN 1906, 1936, 1986 LOW 35F IN 2002 PRE 1.58 INS IN 2002 SNOW TRACE IN 2002 (Ice pellets) PEAK GUST 64 MPH SSW IN 2000 Today's report by: Robert Skilling