BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME CLEAR, SUNNY BUT VERY COLD TODAY WITH GUSTY WINDS TEMPS STRUGGLE TO REACH 32F EARLY AFTERNOON The very cold air mass which arrived in force overnight included rapidly falling temperatures from around 30F at 6 p.m. to 23F by midnight with gusty northwest winds. A much smaller temperature drop occurred after midnight amounting to only 2 degrees but down to 21F by dawn. This was 12 degrees colder than average for the date. Early this afternoon high temperatures were just barely able to reach 32 degrees. Dew points were in the mid-single numbers. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, stratocumulus layer extending along and offshore NNE-SSE, few lower cumulus east and distant south Temperature: 21F, Dew point: 11F, Wind: WNW at 13G25 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.02 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 70 miles, 20 miles NE-SE, 80 miles NW 6-hourly minimum temperature: 21F 24-hour rainfall: 0.00 BHO SA 1155 CLR 70 165/21/11/3013G25/002/ SC LYR XTDNG ALG/OFFSHR NNE-SSE FEW LWR CU E AND ALG HRZN DSNT S FEW CI DSNT E-S VSBY NE-SE 20 NW 80/ 8/801 56001 10022 20021 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, stratocumulus layer along and offshore north-northeast through south-southeast, cumulus distant south, few stratocumulus distant W-NW Temperature: 27F, Dew point: 7F, Wind: NW at 15G24 kts, Wind: Peak wind NW at 26 kts at 35 past this hour Sea-level pressure: 30.00 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 70 miles, 30 miles NE-SE BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 160/27/7/3115G24/000/ SC LYR ALG/OFFSHR NNE-SSE FEW LWR CU DSNT S FEW CU/SC DSNT W-NW FEW CI DSNT NE-SE PK WND 3126/35/ 8/801 58005 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, stratocumulus offshore NE-SSE Temperature: 31F, Dew point: 7F, Wind: WNW at 14G23 kts, Wind: Variable in direction W to NW Sea-level pressure: 29.95 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 75 miles 6-hour max. temp: 31F BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 141/31/7/3014G23/995/ SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-SSE FEW DSNT WNW-NW WND 26V32/ 8/500 86019 10031 20021 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....38 NORMAL.....48 MIN.....23 NORMAL.....34 MEAN....31 NORMAL.....41 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.............-10 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.............+69 [+3.6 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............34 DEPARTURE........+10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........312 DEPARTURE........-70 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........854 DEPARTURE.......-119 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....762 DIFFERENCE.......+92 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............33 NW AT 10:31 P.M. * AEROVANE.............32 NW AT 9:26 P.M. ASOS.................33 NW AT 9:47 P.M. DAVIS................33 NNW AT 7:36 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............24 NW AT 9:27 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........23 NW AT 9:49 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........26 NW AT 9:48 P.M. AVERAGE............12.9 NW ASOS...............12.2 DAVIS..............13.1 NW [320 deg] * last of several occurrences.... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.00 DEPARTURE.......-0.16 ASOS...............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........2.19 DEPARTURE.......-0.61 ASOS...............2.21 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........47.13 DEPARTURE.......+2.31 ASOS.............49.73 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 2/13/08. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............TRACE DEPARTURE.....-1.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............TRACE DEPARTURE.....-1.7 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR NOVEMBER 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 11/1 58/36/47/0/0.00/266/43 22 SW 11/2 43/29/36/-10/0.00/598/97 25 NW 11/3 50/32/41/-5/0.00/000/00 23 S 11/4 65/45/55/+9/0.00/409/67 24 SSW 11/5 65/52/59/+14/0.07/018/03 28 NE 11/6 55/52/54/+9/0.93/000/00 35 NNE 11/7 57/52/55/+10/0.05/000/00 24 N 11/8 59/55/57/+13/0.07/000/00 32 SE 11/9 57/45/51/+7/0.01/462/77 35 WSW 11/10 52/34/43/-1/T/316/53 32 W 11/11 47/31/39/-4/0.00/428/72 33 W 11/12 46/35/41/-2/0.00/355/60 17 W 11/13 49/36/43/0/0.05/T/000/00 35 ESE SLEET 8 AM 11/14 59/49/54/+12/0.07/0/000/00 22 SE 11/15 67/56/62/+20/0.62/0/000/00 65 SSE Aero 69 MPH SSE 11/16 64/37/51/+9/0.32/0/.../.. 53 W Aero 46 MPH W 11/17 47/31/39/-2/0.00/0/0/.../.. 24 SSW 11/18 38/23/31/-10/0.00/0.0/.../.. 33 NW 11/19 morning low temp. 21F; our normal low is 33F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR NOVEMBER 2008... 11/15 PEAK GUST: 65 SSE, PREVIOUS RECORD, 58 NNW in 1962, NW in 1967 11/15 HIGH MIN TEMP: 56F; TIED WITH 1989 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR NOVEMBER 19 HIGH 72 IN 1941 LOW 10 IN 1936 PRECIP 1.92 INCHES IN 1926 SNOWFALL 11.0 INS IN 1986 PEAK GUST 59e E IN 1945 RECORDS FOR NOVEMBER 20 HIGH 72 IN 1953 LOW 10 IN 1894 PRECIP 2.78 INS IN 1988 SNOWFALL 3.0 INS IN 1897 PEAK GUST 73e S IN 1950 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Robert Skilling