BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2008 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME UNLESS NOTED COOL AND PARTLY SUNNY EARLY AUTUMN WEATHER TODAY... The low temperature of 37 this morning matches the lowest of the season to date previously recorded on October 7th. The average date of the first freeze (temperature of 32 or lower) is October 20th. Clouds from a storm moving out to sea south of New England today are moving away at mid-day, though the temperature is struggling to climb to the low 50s. Visibility has been reduced to the southeast due to the departing storm all morning, but after sunrise the visibility was 90 miles toward the mountains to the northwest with the dew point in the low 30s. Today's observations: 8 A.M. EDT Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altostratus, broken cirrostratus, broken cirrus, clearing line W-NNE Temperature: 38F, Dew point: 33F, Wind: NNW at 10 kt Sea-level pressure: 30.19 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 70 miles, 90 miles W-N, 40 miles SSE-SSW 6-hourly minimum temperature: 37F 24-hourly rainfall: 0.00 BHO SA 1155 25 SCT 120 SCT E180 BKN 250 BKN 70 223/38/33/ 3410/019/ SUN DMLY VSBL CLRG LINE W-NNE VSBY W-N 90 SSE-SSW 40/ 8/578/ 53014 10041 20037 11 A.M. EDT Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus, scattered cirrus Temperature: 46F, Dew point: 35F, Wind: N at 10 kt Wind: Direction variable NW-NNE Sea-level pressure: 30.23 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 65 miles, 80 miles W-NW, 45 miles SE-S BHO SA 1455 25 SCT 150 SCT 250 SCT 65 236/46/35/3510/023/ VSBY W-NW 80 SE-S 45 WND 32V02/ 8/571 51013 2 P.M. EDT Weather: Broken cumulus, broken cirrus Temperature: 49F, Dew point: 33F, Wind: NNE at 12 kt Wind: Direction variable N-ENE Sea-level pressure: 30.23 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 70 miles, 75 miles NW, 55 miles SE-S 6-hourly maximum temperature: 51F BHO SA 1755 30 BKN 250 BKN 70 236/49/33/0312/023/ VSBY NW 75 SE-S 55 WND 00V06/ 8/101 54000 10051 20038 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....59 NORMAL.....60 MIN.....42 NORMAL.....42 MEAN....51 NORMAL.....51 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..............0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH............+34 (+1.8 DEGREES/DAY) PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............26 NW AT 8:15 A.M. AEROVANE.............24 NW AT 12:20 A.M. * ASOS.................24 NNW AT 8:25 A.M. DAVIS................25 NW AT 8:24 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............17 NW AT 8:15 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........16 NNW AT 8:36 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........17 NW AT 8:01 A.M. AVERAGE..............10.7 NW ASOS.................10.2 DAVIS................10.8 NW [314 deg] * Last of several 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..........0.62 DEPARTURE.......-1.76 ASOS..............0.63 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........43.52 DEPARTURE.......+3.54 ASOS.............46.11 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 2/13/08. PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 2008 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/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 10/1 68/58/63/+6/0.49/120/17 38 SW TSTM # 10/2 62/46/54/-2/0.12/455/65 45 W 10/3 62/45/54/-2/T/376/54 44 SSW Aero 43 MPH SSW 10/4 61/40/51/-5/0.00/612/88 32 WSW 10/5 53/45/49/-6/T/000/00 18 WNW 10/6 58/39/49/-6/0.00/303/44 28 WNW 10/7 64/37/51/-4/0.00/687/100 23 WNW 10/8 69/43/56/+2/0.00/581/85 32 S Aero 30 MPH S 10/9 72/55/64/+10/0.02/510/75 33 WSW 10/10 69/53/61/+7/0.00/664/98 29 W 10/11 68/49/59/+6/0.00/668/99 20 NNW 10/12 67/47/57/+4/0.00/625/93 21 W 10/13 62/50/56/+4/0.00/308/46 20 NE 10/14 65/50/58/+6/0.00/.../.. 30 SSE 10/15 64/52/58/+6/0.00/.../.. 21 ENE Aero 17 MPH WNW 10/16 67/51/59/+8/T/.../.. 35 NW 10/17 59/42/51/0/0.00/.../.. 26 NW 10/18 morning low temp. 37F; the normal low 42F # Thunderstorm gust NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR OCTOBER None... DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 18 HIGH 82F IN 1908 LOW 26F IN 1939 PRECIP 2.79 INCHES IN 1975 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1972 PEAK GUST 66 MPH S IN 1967 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 19 HIGH 81F IN 1945 LOW 21F IN 1922 PRECIP 3.64 INCHES IN 1932 SNOWFALL 1.0 INCHES IN 1972 PEAK GUST 66 MPH SSW IN 1967 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Mike Iacono