BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2011 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME PARTLY SUNNY AND WARMER WITH A STEADY BREEZE TODAY... Additional light snow and rain showers on Friday afternoon amounted a trace of snow and a few hundredths of an inch of rain. The final storm totals were 1.14 inches of precipitation and 4.6 inches of snow. There were still two inches of snow on the snow boards and the surrounding unpaved areas this morning. The new snow this week raised the seasonal total to 96.8 inches on the summit, which makes the 2010-11 season the 13th snowiest on record to date. March 2011 ended up just slightly above average for temperature, and well below average for precipitation. See stats below: MARCH 2011 PRELIMINARY STATS Average Max Temp: 45.0F [+0.2F] Average Min Temp: 28.0F [+0.2F] Mean Temp: 36.5F [+0.2F] 24-hr. Corr Mean Temp: 35.9F Max Temp: 69F on 18th Min Temp: 8F on 3rd Total precipitation: 2.68 ins. [-2.11 in.] Total snowfall: 5.5 ins. [-6.0 ins. ] Total heating degree day units (month): 876 [-18] Total heating degree day units (season): 5398 [-66] Avg wind speed: 14.0 MPH W 21% Avg corrected wind speed: 14.3 MPH W Peak gust: 58 MPH SE on 7th, 58 MPH W on 18th Peak fastest mile: 47 MPH W on 18th Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrus, thin scattered cirrus, few stratocumulus, distant W-NW, few altocumulus distant NNW-NNE Temperature: 36F, Dew point: 31F; Wind: W at 12 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.39 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 40 miles, visibility W-NW 30 24-hour precip: 0.12 inches 24-hour snowfall: Trace Snow depth: 2 inches 6-hour min. temp: 33F BHO SA 1155 180 SCT 220 –SCT 40 951/36/31/2812/939/ FEW SC DSNT W-NW FEW AC DSNT NNW-NNE VSBY W-NW 30/ 8/031 4/002 51017 70012 10036 20033 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, thin scattered cirrus, few altocumulus distant E-ESE Temperature: 43F, Dew point: 31F; Wind: W at 14G22 kts, Wind: Peak gust 32 kts, W at 9:33 A.M. Wind: Direction variable SW to WNW Sea-level pressure: 29.39 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 65 miles BHO SA 1455 35 SCT 250 –SCT 65 952/43/31/2614G22/939/ FEW AC DSNT E-ESE PK WND 2632/33 WND 23V29/ 8/531 53001 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken stratocumulus, few moderate cumulus all quadrants Temperature: 48F, Dew point: 30F; Wind: W at 14G23 kts, Wind: Peak gust 28 kts W at 12:41 P.M. Wind: Direction variable WSW to WNW Sea-level pressure: 29.38 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 70 miles 6-hour max. temp. 48F BHO SA 1755 50 SCT E60 BKN 70 950/48/30/2714G23/938/ FEW MDT CU ALQDS PK WND 2628/41 WND 24V30/ 8/500 58002 10048 20036 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 1 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....36 NORMAL.....50 MIN.....31 NORMAL.....33 MEAN....34 NORMAL.....41 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...................-7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...................-7 [-6.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............31 DEPARTURE........+7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............31 DEPARTURE........+7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........5429 DEPARTURE.......-59 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....5110 DIFFERENCE.....+319 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..............35 N AT 6:17 A.M. * # AEROVANE...............40 N AT 6:27 A.M. * ASOS...................41 NE AT 6:06 A.M. DAVIS..................33 N AT 9:53 A.M. # THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY............24 N AT 5:48 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.............26 NE AT 6:07 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE............23 WNW AT 2:19 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........15.0 WNW ASOS.................15.7 DAVIS................13.7 NNW [327 DEG] * last of several occurrences... # Wind speeds likely slowed due to snow/ice accretion PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.12 DEPARTURE........-0.03 ASOS..............0.13 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.71 DEPARTURE........+0.41 ASOS............0.67 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........14.32 DEPARTURE........+0.39 ASOS..............15.06** ** ASOS data is in error due to system failure on 1/12-13 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........Trace DEPARTURE........-0.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................1.6 DEPARTURE........+1.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............96.8 DEPARTURE.......+39.7 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH/APRIL 2011 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system gust when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 3/1 36/27/32/0/0.00/0.0/580/86 37 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW 3/2 45/18/32/0/T/T/264/39 51 W AERO 53 MPH W 3/3 27/8/18/-14/0.00/0.0/659/97 36 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW 3/4 37/15/26/-7/0.00/0.0/540/79 24 SSE 3/5 53/27/40/+7/T/0.0/158/23 48 SSW AERO 53 MPH SSW 3/6 59/46/53/+20/0.16/0.0/028/04 48 S AERO 56 MPH S 3/7 54/25/40/+7/0.64/T/159/23 58 SE AERO 62 MPH SSE 3/8 41/22/32/-2/0.00/0.0/638/92 23 NW 3/9 34/28/31/-3/T/T/049/07 31 NE AERO 32 MPH NE 3/10 40/32/36/+2/0.06/T/000/00 37 E AERO 39 MPH E 3/11 54/40/47/+12/0.46/0.0/000/00 40 E AERO 40 MPH E 3/12 51/34/43/+8/0.00/0.0/550/78 35 SW AERO 37 MPH WSW 3/13 48/36/42/+7/T/0.0/326/46 39 W AERO 42 MPH W 3/14 37/28/33/-3/0.01/T/021/03 20 NW 3/15 47/28/38/+2/0.00/0.0/635/89 23 SSE 3/16 43/30/37/+1/0.54/0.0/000/00 25 WNW 3/17 61/35/48/+10/0.00/0.0/677/94 27 S AERO 29 MPH S 3/18 69/43/56/+19/0.00/0.0/448/62 58 W AERO 58 MPH W 3/19 50/30/40/+3/T/0.0/421/58 31 NW AERO 32 MPH NW 3/20 42/26/34/-4/0.00/0.0/677/93 23 SE 3/21 38/31/35/-3/0.33/2.0/000/00 29 SSE AERO 31 MPH SSE 3/22 40/30/35/-3/0.00/0.0/132/18 36 WNW AERO 37 MPH WNW 3/23 38/27/33/-5/T/T/177/24 20 WNW 3/24 36/27/32/-7/0.05/0.5/059/08 27 NW AERO 31 MPH NW 3/25 43/25/34/-5/0.00/0.0/594/80 32 WSW AERO 35 MPH WSW 3/26 39/20/30/-9/0.00/0.0/723/97 40 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW 3/27 43/22/33/-7/0.00/0.0/681/91 40 WNW AERO 40 MPH W 3/28 44/23/34/-6/0.00/0.0/661/88 39 W AERO 42 MPH W 3/29 47/26/37/-3/0.00/0.0/738/98 32 W AERO 34 MPH W 3/30 53/27/40/-1/0.00/0.0/712/94 25 W AERO 25 MPH WNW 3/31 45/31/38/-3/0.43/3.0/000/00 27 NE AERO 30 MPH NE 4/1 36/31/34/-7/0.71/1.6/.../.. 35 N AERO 40 MPH N 4/2 morning low temp: 33F; the normal low is now 33F DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2011 3/18 - NEW RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 69F; surpasses the previous record of 68F in 1999 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR APRIL 2 HIGH 77 IN 1967 LOW 14 IN 1919 PRECIP 1.83 IN. IN 1970 SNOWFALL 13.0 IN. IN 1887 PEAK GUST 76 MPH SSW IN 1970 RECORDS FOR APRIL 3 HIGH 76 IN 1892 LOW 16 IN 1894 PRECIP 2.18 IN. IN 1990 SNOWFALL 8.0 IN. IN 1915 PEAK GUST 83e MPH NW IN 1977 [RECORD FOR MONTH] TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono