BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA   DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   RAIN CHANGED TO SNOW EARLY SUNDAY EVENING SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION REACHES 1.7 INCHES STRONG WEST WINDS GUST OVER 50 MPH   Rain which began around noon yesterday started  mixing with and finally changing to snow early in the evening.  The snow was wet and sticky and was frozen later in the night onto the trees and our precipitation gages early this morning after temperatures dropped to 29F by midnight and then on down to 24F by 6 a.m.  The snow depth was quite easily measured at 1.7 inches on our snow boards this morning because much of the accumulation was wet and sticky and didn't get blown around by the strong winds which began late last evening. However some light snow in flurries around and a bit after midnight was being blown around by the wind this morning. The temperature was near 32 degrees during all of the important snowfall.   West winds increased rapidly late last evening reaching speeds just over 50 MPH by midnight and continue today.       Today's observations:   7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cumulus fractus forming, altocumulus north- west through east and southeast with a few lenticular forms, and a layer is seen far to the northeast and east, drifting snow Temperature: 24F, Dew point: 16F, Wind: W at 21G37 kts, Wind: Peak wind gust 37 kts W at 6:54 a.m.  Sea-level pressure: 29.74 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 30 miles, but 35 miles SW-NW and 20 miles to the northeast and east 6-hour minimum temperature: 24F 6-hour precip: trace 6-hour snowfall: trace 24-hour snowfall: 1.7 ins. Snow depth on ground: 2 ins. BHO SA 1155 CLR 30 072/24/16/2621G37/974/ FEW SC FRMG FEW AC WNW-N AC/FEW ACSL N-SE LYR DSNT NE-E VSBY SW-NW 35 SW-NW NE-E 20 PK WND 2737/54/ DRFTG SNW TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 1.7 INS/ 8/540 4/002 53021 ASOS 70086 MANUAL 70083 10027 20024   10 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, stratocumulus forming, light haze   Temperature: 28F, Dew point: 18F, Wind: W at 24G39 kts, Wind: Peak wind gust 41 kts W at 9:44 a.m., Wind: direction variability SW-WNW   Sea-level pressure: 29.79 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles, light haze BHO SA 1455 65 SCT 35 088/28/18/2624G39/979/ CUFRA/CU ALQDS LGT HZ PK WND 2741/44/ DRFTG SNW/ 8/530 51016   1 P.M.   Weather: Broken stratocumulus, cumulus, and cirrus with virga, snow showers vicinity station SE and W   Temperature: 29F, Dew point: 15F, Wind: W at 26G39 kts. Wind: Peak wind gust 40 kts W at 12:05 p.m. Wind: direction variable SW to WNW  Sea-level pressure: 29.81 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles, SE 25, W 25, NE 40 6-hour maximum temperature: 31F  BHO SA 1755 E38 BKN 220 BKN 35 094/29/15/2626G39/981/ FEW LWR CU SHSN VCTY STN SE AND W VIRGA ALQDS VSBY SE AND W 25 NE 40 PK WND 2740/05/ WND 23V30/ 8/808 50006 10031 20024   WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22   TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....41    NORMAL.....38 MIN.....28    NORMAL.....22 MEAN....35    NORMAL.....30   DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.................+5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH................+54 [+2.3 DEGREES/DAY]   HEATING DEGREE DAYS0 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............30  DEPARTURE.........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............768  DEPARTURE........-59 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........4336  DEPARTURE........-27 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....3980  DIFFERENCE......+356   PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............46 W   AT 11:37 P.M.                    AEROVANE.............48 W   AT 11:37 P.M.                     ASOS.................52 W   AT 11:38 P.M.                    DAVIS................40 W   AT 11:37 P.M.  * FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............31  W  AT 11:39 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........32  W  AT 11:39 P.M.        MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........29  W  AT 11:39 P.M. *                         AVERAGE............14.3  ESE                     ASOS...............14.1                     DAVIS..............13.9  SE [140 DEGREES] * likely slowed by snow/ice accumulation,   direction vane frozen   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.83  DEPARTURE.........+0.68                          ASOS...............0.86 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........2.17  DEPARTURE.........-0.99                          ASOS...............2.14 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR............6.33  DEPARTURE.........-1.61                          ASOS...............7.34 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 1/1/09 and 1/2/09   SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........1.7   DEPARTURE.........+1.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............10.2   DEPARTURE.........-2.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............65.3   DEPARTURE........+22.9   PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 2009 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   2/1  45/15/30/+4/0/0/402/67          35 SW 2/2  50/32/41/+15/0/0/568/94         29 NNW 2/3  33/22/28/+2/0.44/5.6/000/00     39 N    AERO 38 MPH N  2/4  24/10/17/-9/0.05/0.9/572/94     37 WNW 2/5  17/3/10/-17/0/0/538/88          33 W 2/6  26/4/15/-12/0/0/509/83          26 W 2/7  42/16/29/+2/0/0/314/51          45 S    AERO 44 MPH S 2/8  49/30/40/+13/0/0/433/70         54 W    AERO 54 MPH W 2/9  37/21/29/+2/0/0/621/100         38 WNW  AERO 38 MPH WNW 2/10 36/22/29/+2/0/0/006/01          21 SSE 2/11 59/34/47/+20/0/0/482/77         29 SSE  AERO 24 MPH SSE 2/12 51/37/44/+16/0.13/0/063/10      54 WSW  AERO 54 MPH WSW 2/13 38/24/31/+3/0/429/68            47 W    AERO 47 MPH W 2/14 39/20/30/+2/0/0/595/94          42 W    AERO 40 MPH W 2/15 39/23/31/+3/0/0/637/100         30 NW   AERO 28 MPH NW 2/16 35/21/28/0/0/0/633/99           23 NW    2/17 35/19/27/-2/0/0/641/100         21 NW  2/18 41/24/33/+4/0.25/1.6/.../..     33 E    AERO 33 MPH E 2/19 46/24/35/+6/0.34/0.4/.../..     43 W    AERO 44 MPH W 2/20 27/18/23/-6/T/T/.../..          50 W    AERO 48 MPH W 2/21 37/23/30/+1/0/0/.../..          42 W    AERO 37 MPH W 2/22 41/28/35/+5/0.83/1.7/000/00     46 W    AERO 48 MPH W   2/23 morning low temp: 24F; our normal low temp: 22F,      a trace of precip. and snowfall since midnight   NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2009...   None to date   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: Robert Skilling