BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2011 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME ARCTIC AIRMASS MOVING INTO NEW ENGLAND THIS WEEKEND... SUNNY AND CLEAR THIS MORNING WITH HIGH CLOUDS ARRIVING THIS AFTERNOON... The low temperature on the hill this morning was 10 deg F, which is 7 degrees below the normal minimum for the date of 17 deg F. Colder temperatures were observed in the nearby lowlands with a minimum of 1 deg this morning. Total January snowfall is up to 31.7 inches, which is already the 12th snowiest January on record through the 22nd. The seasonal snowfall of 54.7 inches is the ninth highest for the season to date through January. Record lows may be possible in the area in the next few days. To see how cold it has to be for a record at Blue Hill, here arethe current records for upcoming dates: LOW MINIMUM Jan 23 -10F in 1976 Jan 24 -12F in 1907 Jan 25 -10F in 1935 LOW MAXIMUM Jan 23 10F in 1976 Jan 24 4F in 1907 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus offshore distnat NE-ESE, few altocumulus WNW-NW, few cirrus distant ESE-SSW Temperature: 11F, Dew point: 5F; Wind: W at 13 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.87 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 45 miles 6-hour min. temp: 11F Total snow depth on ground: 20 inches 24-hour snowfall: 5.1 inches 24-hour precip: 0.37 inch BHO SA 1155 CLR 45 116/11/5/2613/987/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-ESE FEW AC WNW-NW FEW CI DSNT ESE-SSW TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 5.1 INS STORM TOTAL 7.6 INS/ 8/531 4/020 53027 70037 10016 20011 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus offshore distant NE-E, few cirrus SE-SW, few lower dense cirrus S Temperature: 17F, Dew point: 6F; Wind: W at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.94 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 65 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 65 138/17/6/2610/994/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-E FEW CI SE-SW FEW LWR DNS CI S/ 8/501 51022 1 P.M. Weather: Thin overcast cirrus, few stratocumlus distant ENE-ESE, few lower dense cirrus SSE-S Temperature: 22F, Dew point: 6F; Wind: W at 5 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.90 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 70 miles 6-hour max temp: 23 deg F 6-hour min temp: 10 deg F BHO SA 1755 250 –OVC 70 126/22/6/2805/990/ FEW SC DSNT ENE-ESE FEW LWR DNS CI SSE-S WND LGT/ 8/501 56012 10023 20010 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 21 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....26 NORMAL.....33 MIN.....17 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....22 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.................-3 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH................+13 [+0.4 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............43 DEPARTURE........+3 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........804 DEPARTURE.......-10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3056 DEPARTURE.......-87 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3057 DIFFERENCE.......-1 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..............43 W AT 4:13 P.M. AEROVANE...............47 W AT 4:14 P.M. * ASOS...................43 WNW AT 4:14 P.M. DAVIS..................45 WNW AT 3:55 P.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY........... 33 W AT 3:55 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............ 30 WNW AT 3:56 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE............33 W AT 3:56 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........15.5 W ASOS...................15.1 DAVIS..................14.4 WNW [286 DEG] * Last of several occurrences. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.37 DEPARTURE........+0.21 ASOS..............0.38 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........4.28 DEPARTURE........+1.00 ASOS..............4.84** TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........4.28 DEPARTURE........+1.00 ASOS...............4.84** ** 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..........5.1 DEPARTURE........+4.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............31.7 DEPARTURE.......+21.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............54.7 DEPARTURE.......+30.6 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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 1/1 57/37/47/+20/0.00/0.0/318/58 25 S 1/2 47/33/40/+13/0.21/0.0/000/00 38 WNW AERO 44 MPH WNW 1/3 33/23/28/+1/0.00/0.0/539/98 40 NW AERO 48 MPH NW 1/4 37/21/29/+2/0.00/0.0/408/74 29 SSW AERO 35 MPH SSW 1/5 37/22/30/+3/0.00/0.0/497/90 35 W AERO 38 MPH W 1/6 30/17/24/-2/0.00/0.0/421/76 16 WNW 1/7 33/20/27/+1/T/T/117/21 19 NNE 1/8 30/26/28/+2/0.14/1.7/.../.. 23 NNW 1/9 32/20/26/0/0.02/0.5/.../.. 38 W AERO 42 MPH W 1/10 33/18/26/0/0.00/0.0/.../.. 32 WNW AERO 37 MPH WNW 1/11 30/16/23/-3/0.00/0.0/.../.. 22 NNW 1/12 31/24/28/+2/2.04/18.2/000/00/ 52 NNE AERO 1/13 28/16/22/-4/0.00/0.0/.../.. 35 NW AERO 39 MPH NW 1/14 23/11/17/-9/T/T/.../.. 21 NNW 1/15 30/8/19/-7/0.01/0.3/.../.. 28 SSW AERO 33 MPH SSW 1/16 31/16/24/-2/0.00/0.0/.../.. 36 W AERO 39 MPH W 1/17 18/10/14/-12/0.00/0.0/.../.. 24 WNW 1/18 39/16/28/+2/1.01/2.1/000/00 32 ENE AERO missing 1/19 36/30/33/+8/0.19/1.1/000/00 27 WNW 1/20 30/21/26/+1/0.02/0.2/.../.. 22 WNW 1/21 26/17/22/-3/0.64/7.6/.../.. 43 W AERO 47 MPH WNW 1/22 morning low temp: 10F; the normal low is now 17F DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2011 1/12 - NEW RECORD PRECIPITATION OF 2.04 INCHES; surpasses the previous record of 1.46 inches in 1900 1/12 - NEW RECORD SNOWFALL OF 18.2 INCHES; surpasses the previous record of 6.0 inches in 1923 1/21 - NEW RECORD SNOWFALL OF 7.6 INCHES; surpasses the previous record of 7.5 inches in 2001 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 22 HIGH 59F IN 1916 LOW -8F IN 1888,1976 PRECIP 1.24 INS. IN 1891,1987 SNOWFALL 10.0 INS. IN 2005 PEAK GUST 67 MPH W IN 1976 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 23 HIGH 62F IN 1906 LOW -10F IN 1976 PRECIP 2.40 INS. IN 1935 SNOWFALL 14.6 INS. IN 1966 PEAK GUST 85 MPH S IN 1992 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono/Warren Porter