BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2008 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME COLDER TEMPERATURES RETURN ON STRONG WEST WINDS TODAY... LIGHT SNOWFALL THIS MORNING... A total of 0.4 inch of new snow fell early this morning, and colder drier air is moving in today. The peak gust has been 59 mph, W at 9:12 AM, and there have been multiple gusts over 50 mph through mid-day. The highest hourly mean wind speed has been 35 mph in the hour from 9-10 AM. The low temperature on Sunday the 28th of 41 is a new record high minimum temperature for the date surpassing 39 set in 1907. The high temperature of 58 on the 28th was two degrees below the record for the date. 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken altocumulus Temperature: 33F, Dew point: 25F, Wind: W at 18G26 kt Wind: Peak gust 40 mph W at 6:02 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.54 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 40 miles 6-hour minimum temperature: 29F 24-hour precipitation: 0.03 inch 24-hour snowfall: 0.4 inch Snow on ground: Trace BHO SA 1155 E40 SCT 55 BKN 40 005/33/25/2618G26/954/ FEW ACSL E-SE FEW LWR SC PK WND 2735/02 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.4 IN/ 8/570 53003 6003/ 70003 10033 20029 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, few altocumulus Temperature: 39F, Dew point: 25F, Wind: W at 14G18 kt Wind: Peak gust 59 mph W at 9:12 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.59 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 50 miles BHO SA 1455 45 SCT 50 022/35/18/2728G44/959/ FEW AC DSNT E-SE PK WND 2751/12/ 8/530 53017 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 29 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....42 NORMAL.....36 MIN.....29 NORMAL.....20 MEAN....36 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...............+8 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..............+68 [+2.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............29 DEPARTURE.........-8 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............905 DEPARTURE........-61 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........2155 DEPARTURE.......-100 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....2105 DIFFERENCE.......+50 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............39 W AT 1:21 A.M. AEROVANE.............37 W AT 1:21 A.M. ASOS.................37 W AT 1:21 A.M. DAVIS................N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............29 W AT 12:45 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........28 WNW AT 12:46 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........N/A AVERAGE............15.9 W ASOS...............15.0 DAVIS..............N/A * Last of several occurrences. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.03 DEPARTURE.........-0.12 ASOS...............0.03 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........8.43 DEPARTURE.........+4.17 ASOS...............8.65 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........58.72 DEPARTURE.........+7.80 ASOS..............61.66 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 2/13/08. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.4 DEPARTURE......0.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............22.9 DEPARTURE....+13.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............22.9 DEPARTURE....+10.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 2008 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 12/1 59/43/51/+15/0.12/0.0/374/67 43 SSW 12/2 47/32/40/+4/0.00/0.0/451/81 33 SSW 12/3 44/29/37/+2/0.00/0.0/556/100 24 SSW 12/4 53/33/43/+8/T/0.0/122/22 42 SSW Aero 43 MPH S 12/5 38/26/32/-3/0.00/0.0/404/73 26 WNW 12/6 37/23/30/-4/0.00/0.0/309/56 21 S 12/7 32/20/26/-8/0.12/1.6/000/00 54 W Aero 53 MPH W 12/8 21/10/16/-17/0.00/0.0/462/84 50 W Aero 50 MPH W 12/9 53/13/33/0/0.01/T/000/00 48 S Aero 50 MPH S 12/10 60/37/49/+16/0.43/0.0/000/00 55 S Aero 58 MPH S 12/11 37/34/36/+4/1.52/T/000/00 38 NNE Aero 35 MPH NNE 12/12 61/28/45/+13/2.32/0.0/088/16 75 SSE Aero 76 MPH SSE 12/13 28/17/23/-9/0.00/0.0/531/97 33 W 12/14 43/17/30/-1/0.00/0.0/328/60 36 S 12/15 61/43/52/+21/0.00/0.0/076/15 55 S Aero 56 MPH S 12/16 57/26/42/+11/0.14/T/000/00 43 W 12/17 38/25/32/+1/0.46/1.2/000/00 26 E Aero 22 MPH E 12/18 37/28/33/+3/0.00/0.0/261/48 23 WSW 12/19 29/14/22/-8/1.28/../000/00 46 NE Aero 45 MPH NE 12/20 20/11/16/-14/.../../000/00 30 NNW 12/21 33/17/25/-5/.../../000/00 43 W Aero 44 MPH W 12/22 22/12/17/-12/0.00/0.0/544/100 47 W Aero 45 MPH W 12/23 27/9/18/-11/0.00/0.0/458/84 30 W 12/24 50/23/37/+8/.../../000/00 53 S 12/25 52/27/40/+11/.../../518/95 54 W 12/26 35/23/29/+1/0.00/0.0/.../.. 25 SE 12/27 47/33/40/+12/.../0.0/.../.. 37 S 12/28 58/41/50/+22/.../0.0/.../.. 43 SW 12/29 42/29/36/+8/.../0.0/.../.. 39 W 12/30 ...overnight low 29, normal low is 28 NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2008... 12/12 PEAK GUST 75 MPH SSE; PREVIOUS 74 MPH W IN 2000 12/28 RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 41; PREVIOUS 39 IN 1907 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 30 HIGH 60 IN 1984 LOW -18 IN 1933 PRECIP 1.48 INS. IN 1891 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 1956 PEAK GUST 81 MPH WNW IN 1962 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 31 HIGH 62 IN 1965 LOW -12 IN 1917 PRECIP 0.96 INS. IN 1906 SNOWFALL 6.0 INS. IN 1886 PEAK GUST 78 MPH NW IN 1990 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Mike Iacono