BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2011 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME CLEAR SKIES AND COLD TEMPERATURES Cold air has spilled in behind yesterday's storm system. Monday's temperatures averaged 10 degrees below normal for the date. Today will be very similar, with a low this morning of 8F and a high in the upper 20s this afternoon. Winds of 10-15 mph this morning provided for wind chills in the -5 to -10F range. Clouds have been largley absent in the sky today, except for a few ocean-effect clouds and snow showers over the Cape. Winds have relaxed into this afternoon, and should become calm overnight, allowing for prime radiational cooling conditions to develop. Temperatures should be quite chilly Wednesday morning as well, especially in the lower elevations. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered cirrostratus, scattered cirrus, cumulus/stratocumulus layer along/offshore distant NE-SE, few altocumulus lenticularis distant S-SW, patches of dense cirrus ESE-SW, Temperature: 9F, Dew point: -1F; Wind: WNW at 10 kts, Wind: Direction variable W to NNW Wind chill: -6F Sea-level pressure: 29.97 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 70 miles 24-hour snowfall: 0.3 inch 24-hour precip: 0.02 inch Total snow depth on ground: 14 inches 6-hour min. temp: 8F BHO SA 1155 SCT 80 SCT 200 –SCT 250 70 150/9/-1/3010/997/ CU/SC LYR ALG/OFFSHR DSNT NE-SE FEW ACSL DSNT S-SW PTCHS DNS CI ESE-SW WND 27V33/ 8/842 4/014 51017 MANUAL 70002 ASOS 70002 10009 20008 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, cumulus/stratocumulus layer along/offshore distant NE-SE, few cirrus distant SSE-S, light distant haze Temperature: 17F, Dew point: 4F; Wind: WNW at 9 kts, Wind: Direction variable WSW to NW Sea-level pressure: 30.02 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 70 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 166/17/4/2909/002/ CU/SC LYR ALG/OFFSHR DSNT NE-SE FEW CI DSNT SSE-S LGT DSNT HZ WND 25V32/ 8/801 51016 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, cumulus/stratocumulus layer along/offshore distant ENE-SE dissipating Temperature: 28F, Dew point: 9F; Wind: WNW at 9 kts, Wind: Direction variable WSW to NNW Sea-level pressure: 30.02 inches Hg, falling slightly Visibility: 75 miles 6-hour max temp: 29F BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 165/28/9/2909/002/ CU/SC LYR ALG/OFFSHR DSNT ENE-SE DSSPTNG WND 25V34/ 8/800 58001 10029 20009 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....27 NORMAL.....38 MIN.....11 NORMAL.....21 MEAN....19 NORMAL.....29 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.................-10 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.................+20 [+0.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............46 DEPARTURE.......+10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........767 DEPARTURE.......-24 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4268 DEPARTURE.......-59 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....4194 DIFFERENCE......+74 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..............35 WNW AT 7:50 P.M. AEROVANE...............39 NW AT 9:55 P.M. ASOS...................33 NNW AT 9:54 P.M. DAVIS..................39 WNW AT 9:53 P.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY............26 WNW AT 7:50 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.............24 NW AT 8:48 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE............26 WNW AT 7:50 P.M. AVERRAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......10.8 NW ASOS.................11.3 DAVIS................10.5 WNW [299 DEG] * Last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.02 DEPARTURE.......-0.12 ASOS..............0.02 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........2.59 DEPARTURE.......-0.42 ASOS..............2.53 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........8.60 DEPARTURE.......+0.81 ASOS...............9.25** ** 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..........0.3 DEPARTURE........-0.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............13.6 DEPARTURE........+1.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............84.8 DEPARTURE.......+42.9 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/-8/0.80/7.5/000/00 27 N 2/2 34/18/26/0/1.17/3.1/000/00 35 NNE AERO 37 MPH NNE TSTM 2/3 25/15/20/-6/T/T/067/11 21 WNW 2/4 32/13/23/-3/0.00/0.0/595/98 28 SW 2/5 45/22/34/+7/0.24/0.0/000/00 36 SW AERO 42 MPH SW TSTM 2/6 41/30/36/+9/0.00/0.0/532/87 53 W AERO 58 MPH W 2/7 43/28/36/+9/0.04/0.2/049/08 20 SSE 2/8 36/13/25/-2/0.24/1.8/000/00 53 W AERO 62 MPH W 2/9 28/9/19/-8/0.00/0.0/570/92 42 WNW AERO 45 MPH WNW 2/10 26/13/20/-7/0.00/0.0/504/81 25 W 2/11 28/11/20/-7/0.00/0.0/537/86 23 SW 2/12 38/21/30/+2/T/T/088/14 39 W AERO 46 MPH W 2/13 36/19/28/0/0.00/0.0/050/08 37 S AERO 42 MPH S 2/14 53/33/43/+15/T/0.0/265/42 48 WNW AERO 51 MPH WNW 2/15 33/16/25/-3/0.00/0.0/629/99 51 WNW AERO 61 MPH WNW 2/16 39/15/27/-1/0.00/0.0/530/83 30 S AERO 35 MPH S 2/17 59/34/47/+18/0.00/0.0/.../.. 22 WSW 2/18 59/39/49/+20/0.05/0.0/.../.. 56 W AERO 65 MPH W TSTM 2/19 45/14/30/+1/0.00/0.0/.../.. 60 W AERO 66 MPH W 2/20 33/13/23/-6/0.00/0.0/.../.. 45 WNW AERO 48 MPH WNW 2/21 27/11/19/-10/0.05/1.0/.../.. 35 WNW AERO 39 MPH NW 2/22 our morning low temp: 8F; the normal low is now 22F 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 22 HIGH 63F IN 1997 LOW -1F IN 1918 PRECIP 1.38 INCHES IN 1900 SNOWFALL 8.0 INCHES IN 1893 PEAK GUST 74 MPH S IN 1974 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 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser