BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME PLENTY OF SUN, BUT CONTINUED COLD SNOW DEPTH CONTINUES ABOVE 20 INCHES The day started out cold once again. The low reached 11F this morning, and with a 15 mph wind, it felt like -4F. With an inversion present, the nearby lower elevations were much colder. Norwood made it down to -5F this morning. Temperatures have only warmed into the mid 20s early this afternoon, despite plenty of sunshine. High cirrus clouds have slowy been invading the sky. Temperatures should continue to moderate a little each day through the weekend. The snow depth was 23 inches again this morning. With only brief periods of warmer temperatures and subsequent melting since our onslaught of snow began in January, the snow depth has continued above 20 inches for over two weeks now. We have a long way to go to catch the record: BHO Longest Periods with 20"+ Snow Depth (1895-2011): 1) 53 days, 27 Dec 1947 - 17 Feb 1948 2) 34 days, 5 Feb - 9 Mar 1920 34 days, 7 Feb - 12 Mar 1978 4) 23 days, 25 Feb - 19 Mar 1969 5) 16 days, 27 Jan - 11 Feb, 2011 (through Feb 11th) 6) 11 days, 15 - 25 Mar 1916 11 days, 5 - 15 Jan 1961 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered thin cirrus, scattered high thin cirrus, few cumulus/stratocumulus along/offshore distant NE-ESE, few altocumulus lenticularis distant SSW-WSW and distant NNW, thin cirrus layer SSE-W invading the sky, inversion present Temperature: 11F, Dew point: 1F; Wind: SW at 12 kts Wind chill: -4F Sea-level pressure: 30.14 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 55 miles 6-hour min. temp: 11F Total snow depth on ground: 23 inches BHO SA 1155 250 –SCT 300 –SCT 55 206/11/1/2312/014/ FEW CU/SC ALG/OFFSHR DSNT NE-ESE FEW ACSL DSNT SSW-WSW AND DSNT NNW THN CI LYR SSE-W INVADING INVSN PRSNT/ 8/845 4/023 53003 10012 20011 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered thin cirrus, scattered high thin cirrus, cirrus invading the sky, thin smoke layer distant WSW-N-ENE, light distant haze Temperature: 18F; Dew point 3F; Wind: WSW @ 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.16 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 40 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 250 –SCT 300 –SCT 40 212/18/3/2408/016/ CI INVADING THN K LYR DSNT WSW-N-ENE LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/006 51006 1 P.M. Weather: Broken thin cirrus, broken high thin cirrus, few cirrocumulus SE-SSE, cirrus invading the sky, light distant haze Temperature: 26F, Dew point: 0F; Wind: SW at 12 kts, Wind: Direction variable S-W Sea-level pressure: 30.11 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 60 miles, light distant haze 6-hour max. temp: 26F BHO SA 1755 250 –BKN 300 –BKN 60 197/26/0/2212/011/ FEW CC SE-SSE CI INVADING LGT DSNT HZ WND 18V26/ 8/006 58015 10026 20011 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....26 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....13 NORMAL.....19 MEAN....20 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..................-7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..................-9 [-1.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............45 DEPARTURE........+7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........393 DEPARTURE........+7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3894 DEPARTURE.......-28 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3827 DIFFERENCE......+67 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..............25 W AT 4:13 P.M. * AEROVANE............. .30 W AT 4:14 P.M. * ASOS...................26 WNW AT 4:13 P.M. DAVIS..................28 W AT 4:13 P.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY............19 WNW AT 2:25 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.............20 NW AT 2:26 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE............20 WNW AT 2:26 P.M. AVERRAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........12.1 W ASOS..................11.5 DAVIS.................11.2 W [268 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..........2.49 DEPARTURE........+1.02 ASOS..............2.41 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........8.50 DEPARTURE........+2.25 ASOS...............9.13** ** 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......... 0.0 DEPARTURE........-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............12.6 DEPARTURE........+6.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............83.8 DEPARTURE ......+47.9 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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 2/1 20/15/18/-8/.../../000/00 27 N 2/2 34/18/26/0/.../../000/00 35 NNE AERO 37 MPH NNE 2/3 25/15/20/-6/.../../.../.. 21 WNW 2/4 32/13/23/-3/0.00/0.0/.../.. 28 SW 2/5 45/22/34/+7/0.24/0.0/.../.. 36 SW AERO 42 MPH SW TSTM 2/6 41/30/36/+9/0.00/0.0/.../.. 53 W AERO 58 MPH W 2/7 43/28/36/+9/.../../.../.. 20 SSE 2/8 36/13/25/-2/.../../.../.. 53 W AERO 62 MPH W 2/9 28/9/19/-8/0.00/0.0/.../.. 42 WNW AERO 45 MPH WNW 2/10 26/13/20/-7/0.00/0.0/.../.. 25 W 2/11 our morning low temp. 11F; the normal low is 20F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2011 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 11 HIGH 60F IN 1981 LOW -10F IN 1899 PRECIP 1.07 INCHES IN 1955 SNOWFALL 9.6 INCHES IN 1933 PEAK GUST 95 MPH S IN 1981 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 12 HIGH 56F IN 1999 LOW -14F IN 1914 PRECIP 4.85 INCHES IN 1886 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 15.0 INCHES IN 2006 PEAK GUST 70 MPH E IN 1985 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser