BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2008 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME POSTPONED: EXTREME WEATHER PRESENTATION AND BOOK SIGNING WITH AUTHOR H. MICHAEL MOGIL; RESCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY MAY 4, 2008 On Sunday May 4, H. Michael Mogil, author of Tornadoes and his new book Extreme Weather, will give an engaging talk about all kinds of weather including blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes and more! For more information, please visit our website: http://www.bluehill.org WARM FIRST HALF OF FEBRUARY THAWS LOCAL POND TEMPERATURES AVERAGED 5 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL COLDER TODAY--ONLY 4TH DAY OF MONTH TO HAVE BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES Ponkapoag Pond, 1.5 miles southest of the Observatory, began showing only partial ice cover after a very mild first week of February. The latest big rainstorm of over 3 inches combined with temperatures reaching 53 degrees on the 13th melted much of the remaining ice. Yesterday the pond was photographed with only 1/10 or less ice so probably could be considered thawed. Meanwhile, Houghtons Pond 1.0 miles east-southeast continues completely ice covered. The first 15 days of the month have averaged 5.0 degrees warmer than average. A 24-hour precipitation total of 3.07 inches on February 12-13 is the most in any February since 3.18 inches in 1981. Our precipitation total for the month stands at 6.37 inches and record wettest February occurred in 1969 with 9.32 inches. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken altostratus, altocumulus, cirrus with clearing to the west thru north approaching, stratocumulus offshore distant NE-SE Temperature: 17F, Dew point: 4F, Wind: WNW at 12G19 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.24 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 65 miles, 70 miles NW 6-hour min temp: 16F BHO SA 1155 E160 BKN 220 BKN 250 BKN 65 239/17/4/2912G19/024/ SC OFFSHR DSNT NNE-SE CLRG SKY CLR SKY BND W-N VSBY NW 70/ 8/078 53015 10022 20016 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few statocumulus along/offshore NE-SE Temperature: 22F, Dew point: 1F, Wind: WNW at 9G17 kts Wind: Variable in direction W-NNW Sea-level pressure: 30.30 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 65 to 70 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 65 260/22/1/2809G17/030/ FEW SC DSNT ALG/OFFSHR NE-SE CI/DENS CI DSNT SE-SW VSBY NW 70 WND 26V33/ 8/502 51021 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....46 NORMAL.....36 MIN.....24 NORMAL.....20 MEAN....35 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..........+ 7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........+78 [+5.0 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............30 DEPARTURE......- 7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........492 DEPARTURE......-81 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3729 DEPARTURE.....-380 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3607 DIFFERENCE....+122 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............47 W AT 7:52 P.M. AEROVANE.............50 W AT 7:39 P.M. ASOS.................48 W AT 7:53 P.M. DAVIS................46 WNW AT 7:39 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............34 W AT 8:24 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........33 W AT 8:25 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........36 W AT 7:53 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...... 18.7 W ASOS.................18.4 DAVIS................18.0 WSW [235 deg] * last of sveral occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE......-0.14 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........6.37 DEPARTURE......+4.20 ASOS..............N/A # TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........10.24 DEPARTURE......+3.29 ASOS..............N/A # # ASOS PRECIPITATION DATA ERROR ON 2/13/08 MONTHLY AND 2008 ASOS TOTAL NOT AVAILABLE SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................7.4 DEPARTURE.....-2.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............51.5 DEPARTURE....+12.6 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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 when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 2/1 53/26/40/+14/1.16/0.1/000/00 54 SSE Aero 59 MPH SSE TSTM 2/2 51/34/43/+17/T/0/391/65 52 SW Aero 52 MPH SW 2/3 45/33/39/+13/0/0/381/63 21 SW 2/4 38/29/34/+8/0/0/006/01 18 SE 2/5 45/33/39/+12/0.42/0/000/00 36 SE Aero 37 MPH SE 2/6 46/34/40/+13/0.88/0/000/00 36 NE Aero 33 MPH NE TSTM 2/7 34/26/30/+3/0.59/1.9/000/00 40 NE Aero 40 MPH NE TSTM 2/8 28/24/26/-1/0.08/0.5/000/00 21 W 2/9 36/21/29/+2/0.09/1.0/118/19 30 ESE 2/10 40/11/26/-1/0.08/0.9/090/11 56 W Aero 61 MPH W 2/11 22/7/15/-12/0/0/612/98 56 W Aero 60 MPH W 2/12 26/9/18/-10/0.27/2.0/.../.. 25 W 2/13 53/22/38/+10/2.80/1.0/000/00 52 S Aero 54 MPH S 2/14 36/26/31/+3/0/0/.../.. 39 WNW 2/15 46/24/35/+7/0/0/.../.. 47 W Aero 50 MPH W 2/16 morning low temp. 16F; normal low is now 20F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2008: 2/13 - New record daily precipitation 2.80 inches; surpasses previous record of 1.90 inches in 1966 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 16 HIGH 62F IN 1954 LOW -16F IN 1943 PRECIP 1.91 INCHES IN 1958 SNOWFALL 18.6 INCHES IN 1958 PEAK GUST 78 MPH W IN 1967 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 17 HIGH 61F IN 1981 LOW -16F IN 1896 PRECIP 1.86 INCHES IN 2003 SNOWFALL 20.0 INCHES IN 2003 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NW IN 1968 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Robert Skilling