BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2008 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME MODERATE SNOWFALL ON FRIDAY WITH SNOW SHOWERS TODAY... FEBRUARY 2008 AND WINTER 2007-2008 NOW AMONG THE FIVE WETTEST ON RECORD... The total snowfall for the storm that began Friday morning and ended very early today was 7.5 inches with 0.80 melted precipitation. The snow cover this morning on the summit was 7 inches. Winds remained light throughout the storm with several peak gusts of 28 mph N occurring just before 9 PM Friday. The total precipitation for February is up to 7.76 inches, which already ranks this month as the fifth wettest on record. The winter (Dec-Feb) precipitation to date of 18.57 inches is also the fifth wettest so far. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, overcast altocumulus Temperature: 21F, Dew point: 19F, Wind: NW at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.93 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 40 miles, hazy 24-hour precipitation: 0.80 inch 24-hour snowfall: 7.5 inches 6-hour min temp: 21F BHO SA 1155 E35 BKN 70 OVC 40 134/21/19/3109/993/ FEW LWR SC HAZY TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 7.5 INS/ 8/53/ 4/007 53020 70080 10023 20021 10 A.M. Weather: Broken altocumulus, overcast altocumulus Temperature: 26F, Dew point: 21F, Wind: NNW at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.93 inches Hg, steady Visibility: 35 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 E70 BKN 150 OVC 35 134/26/21/3408/993/ BINOVC WNW-N HAZY WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/53/ 50000 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, overcast altocumulus, light snow flurries Temperature: 28F, Dew point: 22F, Wind: NNW at 5 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.90 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles 6-hour precipitation: trace 6-hour snowfall: trace 6-hour max. temp: 28F BHO SA 1755 E30 BKN 75 OVC 35S- 124/28/22/3305/990/ SB00 HAZY/ 8/53/ 58010 6000/ 10028 20021 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....29 NORMAL.....38 MIN.....18 NORMAL.....22 MEAN....24 NORMAL.....30 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........-6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........+79 [+3.4 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............41 DEPARTURE.......+5 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........743 DEPARTURE......-84 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3980 DEPARTURE.....-383 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3876 DIFFERENCE....+104 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............28 N AT 8:53 P.M. * AEROVANE.............28 N AT 8:40 P.M. ASOS.................29 N AT 8:41 P.M. DAVIS................26 N AT 8:40 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............17 NNW AT 10:42 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........17 N AT 10:42 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........18 NNW AT 10:41 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......9.0 ESE ASOS................8.3 DAVIS...............8.1 NE [56 deg.] * last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.80 DEPARTURE......+0.65 ASOS..............0.76 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........7.76 DEPARTURE......+4.60 ASOS..............N/A # TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........11.63 DEPARTURE......+3.69 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..........7.5 DEPARTURE.....+7.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............15.1 DEPARTURE.....+2.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............59.2 DEPARTURE....+16.8 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/-1/0.08/0.9/068/11 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/-10/0.27/2.0/351/56 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/+3/0/0/517/82 39 WNW 2/15 46/24/35/+7/0/0/406/64 47 W Aero 50 MPH W 2/16 29/16/23/-5/0/0/586/92 32 W 2/17 44/18/31/+2/0.02//0/415/65 43 SSE Aero 43 MPH SSE 2/18 59/37/48/+19/0.55/0/006/01 69 S Aero 70 MPH S 2/19 43/22/33/+4/0.02/0.2/600/93 44 SSW Aero 46 MPH SSW 2/20 28/18/23/-6/0/0/.../.. 36 W 2/21 29/14/22/-7/0/0/650/100 28 W 2/22 29/18/24/-6/.../../000/00 28 N 2/23 morning low temp. 21F; our normal low is now 22F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2008: 2/13 - New record daily precipitation 2.80 inches; surpasses previous record of 1.90 inches in 1966 2/18 - New record peak wind gust of 69 MPH S; surpasses 65 MPH (estimated) NNW in 1952 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 23 HIGH 62F IN 1990 LOW -8F IN 1907 PRECIP 1.48 INCHES IN 1967 SNOWFALL 10.6 INCHES IN 1967 PEAK GUST 73 MPH WNW IN 1974 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 24 HIGH 68F IN 1985 [RECORD FOR MONTH] LOW -11F IN 1894 PRECIP 3.10 INCHES IN 1969 SNOWFALL 27.4 INCHES IN 1969 [HIGHEST CALENDAR DAY AMOUNT ON RECORD] PEAK GUST 63 MPH NE IN 1998 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Mike Iacono If you do not wish to receive this Daily Discussion and Climate Summary from the Blue Hill Observatory, please send an email to sitemaster@bluehill.org.