BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME LIGHT RAIN MIXED WITH SLEET LATE LAST EVENING AND LIGHT AMOUNTS OF RAIN AND DRIZZLE TODAY MINIMUM TEMPS. OF 42F EQUALED OUR DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMA FOR BOTH 3/7 & 3/8 Precipitation began Tuesday evening around midnight and there was ice pellets mixed with the rain for a time. The rain was light and the temperature was around 33F around the time precipitation began. Rising temperatures early today along with a high of 42F on Tuesday has melted away most of the 3 inches of snow which was reported on the ground yesterday morning. Minimum temperatures of 42F on March 7 and 8 have equaled high minimum records for the dates. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Obscurement with heavy fog, very light rain shower past hour, stratus drifting over summit Temperature: 36F, Dew point: 36F, Wind: SE at 17G26 kts, Wind: Peak wind gust 27 kts SE @ 6:27 a.m. Sea-level pressure: 30.12 inches Hg, falling RAPIDLY Visibility: 1/8 heavy fog, briefly 1 mile SE-SW 6-hour minimum temperature: 33F 6-hour precip: 0.09 in. 24-hour precip: 0.12 in. Snow depth on ground: trace BHO SA 1155 W3 X 1/8F 200/36/36/1317G26/012/ STRA DRFTG OVR SMT VSBY BRFLY 1 SE-SW PK WND 1427/27/ PRESFR RB30E35/ 8//// 58039 ASOS 60009 MANUAL 6009/ ASOS 70012 MANUAL 70012 10036 20033 10 A.M. Weather: Obscurement with heavy fog, light drizzle ended past hour, stratus drifting over summit Temperature: 42F, Dew point: 42F, Wind: SSE at 20G28 kts, Wind: Peak wind gust 31 kts SSE @ 9:29 a.m. Sea-level pressure: 30.01 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 1/8 mile, occasionally 1 1/2 miles BHO SA 1455 W3 X 1/8F 164/42/42/1620G28/001/ STRA DRFTG OVR SMT VSBY SE-SW OCNL 11/2 PK WND 1531/29/ LEUKN/ 8//// 58036 ASOS 60001 MANUAL 6000/ 1 P.M. Weather: Obscurement with heavy fog, rain ended at 12:40 p.m., stratus drifting over summit Temperature: 47F, Dew point: 47F, Wind: S at 22G34 kts, Wind: Peak wind gust 37 kts S @ 12:01 p.m., Wind: direction variability SE to SSW Sea-level pressure: 29.90 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 1/2 variable 1/8 to 1 mile, SE-SW 11/2 miles 6-hour maximum temperature: 47F 6-hour rainfall: 0.03 inch BHO SA 1755 W3 X 1/2VF 125/47/47/1722G34/990/ STRA DRFTG OVR SMT VSBY 1/8V1 SE-SW 11/2 PK WND 1737/01/ WND 14V20 REB10E40/ 8//// 58039 ASOS 60006 MANUAL 6003/ 10047 20036 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....42 NORMAL.....43 MIN.....26 NORMAL.....26 MEAN....34 NORMAL.....34 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...................0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.................-12 [-1.4 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............31 DEPARTURE......... 0 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............332 DEPARTURE........+10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........4859 DEPARTURE........-33 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....4524 DIFFERENCE......+335 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............23 SSE AT 9:26 P.M. AEROVANE.............22 SSE AT 9:26 P.M. ASOS.................22 SSE AT 9:26 P.M. DAVIS................24 SE AT 9:05 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............16 SSE AT 9:26 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........17 SSE AT 9:06 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........18 SE AT 9:06 P.M. . AVERAGE............ 8.0 NNW ASOS................7.8 DAVIS...............7.0 N/A * last of several occurrences.. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.12 DEPARTURE.........-0.03 ASOS...............0.12 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........2.38 DEPARTURE.........+0.88 ASOS...............2.26 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR............8.91 DEPARTURE.........-1.43 ASOS...............9.88 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 1/1/09, 1/2/09 and 2/27/09. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........trace DEPARTURE.........-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............13.4 DEPARTURE.........+8.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............78.7 DEPARTURE........+28.7 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 3/1 28/21/25/-7/0.26/1.9/000/00 38 NNE 3/2 22/15/19/-13/1.16/8.2/000/00 40 NNE AERO 37 MPH NNE 3/3 25/11/18/-14/0.01/0.1/640/94 33 NW 3/4 30/6/18/-14/0/0/684/100 31 WNW 3/5 39/16/28/-5/0/0/659/96 25 WSW 3/6 49/30/40/+7/T/0/.../.. 43 S AERO 41 MPH S 3/7 60/42/51/+18/0.06/0/.../.. * 37 S 3/8 57/42/50/+16/0/0/.../.. * 39 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW 3/9 42/28/35/+1/0.72/3.2/000/00 33 N 3/10 42/26/34/0/0/0/.../.. 23 SSE 3/11 morning low temp: 33F; our normal low is now 26F * low temperatures on 3/7 and 3/8 both equaled the record high minima for the dates (see below) NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2009... 3/2: DAILY SNOWFALL 8.2 INS. SURPASSES PREVIOUS RECORD OF 7.1 INS. IN 1948 3/7: DAILY MINIMUM 42 TIES RECORD HIGH MINIMUM FOR DATE PREVIOUSLY SET IN 1974 AND 1987 3/8: DAILY MINIMUM 42 TIES RECORD HIGH MINIMUM FOR DATE PREVIOUSLY SET IN 1995 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 11 HIGH 65 IN 1967 LOW 4 IN 1939, 1960 PRECIP 2.11 INS. IN 1901 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 1934 PEAK GUST 66e MPH W IN 1980 RECORDS FOR MARCH 12 HIGH 67 IN 1977 LOW 2 IN 1885 PRECIP 2.87 INS. IN 1888 SNOWFALL 9.7 INS. IN 1959 PEAK GUST 66 MPH SE IN 1962 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling