BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2011 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME CLOUDS ON THE INCREASE TODAY AFTER A SUNNY DAY YESTERDAY TO BEGIN THE MONTH OF MARCH TEMPERATURES REACH MID 40'S TODAY AS WINDS INCREASE FROM THE SOUTH, SOUTH-SOUTHWEST Increasing high cloudiness mark the approach of an Arctic cold front as temperatures rise to mid-40's. We have decreasing sunshine after a sunny day yesterday. South to south-south- west winds gusted past 40 MPH this morning but diminished on toward noon and early afternoon. FINAL FEBRUARY 2011 STATS Average Max Temp: 37.4F Average Min Temp: 19.1F Mean Temp: 28.3F [+/- 0.0F] 24-hr. Corr Mean Temp: 27.8F Max Temp: 59F on 17th and 18th Min Temp: 8F on 22nd Total precipitation: 4.92 ins. [+0.86 in.] Total snowfall: 18.5 ins. [+2.5 ins. ] Total heating degree day units (month): 1021 [-13] Total heating degree day units (season): 4522 [-48] Avg wind speed: 14.6 MPH WNW 19% Avg corrected wind speed: 14.8 MPH WNW Peak gust: 60 MPH W on 19th Peak fastest mile: 47 MPH W on 18th SUNSHINE: Total astronomical minutes: ........................... 8139/17785 (poss.) = 46% Total card minutes on Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder: 7845/17142 (poss.) = 46% Normal av. for February is 50% WINTER 2010-2011 BHO Snowiest Dec-Feb (inches): 1) 117.4 in 1947-48 2) 91.2 in 1995-96 3) 89.6 in 2010-11 4) 89.0 in 1922-23 5) 86.4 in 2004-05 BHO Snowiest Oct-Feb (inches): 1) 122.2 in 1947-48 2) 97.0 in 1995-96 3) 95.3 in 2002-03 4) 94.2 in 2004-05 5) 90.6 in 1922-23 6) 89.7 in 2010-11 7) 87.8 in 1945-46 BHO Longest Periods 6"+ Snow Depth (1895-2011): 1) 84 days, 23 Dec 1947 - 15 Mar 1948 2) 73 days, 4 Jan 1923 - 17 Mar 1923 3) 68 days, 10 Jan 1920 - 17 Mar 1920 4) 66 days, 2 Jan 1904 - 7 Mar 1904 5) 58 days, 29 Dec 1976 - 24 Feb 1977 6) 51 days, 19 Jan 1936 - 9 Mar 1936 7) 50 days, 12 Jan 2011- 2 Mar 2011 (through Mar 2nd) 8) 46 days, 20 Jan 1987 - 6 Mar 1987 46 days, 30 Jan 2003 - 16 Mar 2003 10) 44 days, 10 Feb 1969 - 25 Mar 1969 BHO Longest Periods 1"+ Snow Depth (1895-2011): 1) 100 days, 14 Dec 1922 - 23 Mar 1923 2) 85 days, 26 Dec 1903 - 19 Mar 1904 3) 84 days, 23 Dec 1947 - 15 Mar 1948 84 days, 26 Dec 2002 - 19 Mar 2003 5) 82 days, 30 Dec 1993 - 21 Mar 1994 6) 78 days, 9 Jan 1920 - 26 Mar 1920 7) 76 days, 12 Dec 1960 - 25 Feb 1961 8) 72 days, 21 Dec 2010 - 2 Mar 2011 (through Mar 2nd) 9) 71 days, 13 Jan 1978 - 24 Mar 1978 10) 67 days, 12 Dec 1970 - 16 Feb 1971 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrus, scattered cirrus, few altocumulus lenticularis, few cirrocumulus, sky clear past hour, clouds mostly all N-E-S Temperature: 31F, Dew point: 24F; Wind: S at 22G30 kts Wind: Peak wind from south @ 30 kts @ 6:54 a.m. Sea-level pressure: 30.06 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles, distant haze Total snow depth on ground: 9 inches 6-hour min. temp: 26F BHO SA 1155 200 SCT 220 SCT 250 SCT 35 178/31/24/1822G30/006/ SKY CLRG PST HR CLDS N-E-S DNS CI NE-SE FEW ACSL/CC DSNT HZ PK WND 1730/54/ 8/042 4/009 56017 10031 20026 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrus and scattered cirrus Temperature: 40F, Dew point: 26F; Wind: S at 28G39 kts, Wind: Peak wind S at 39 kts at 9:51 A.M. Wind: Direction variable SSE to SSW Sea-level pressure: 29.97 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles, distant haze BHO SA 1455 220 SCT 250 –SCT 35 148/40/26/1928G39/997/ DNS CI LYR W-N FEW ACSL NNW-NE DSNT HZ PK WND 1939/51/ WND 15V21/ 8/042 58030 1 P.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus/altocumulus opacitus, few cumulus fractus/cumulus east thru south, break in overcast distant SE-SSW, some higher middle clouds visible distant SE-SSW Temperature: 43F, Dew point: 25F; Wind: SSW at 14 kts, Wind: Peak wind from the south at 30 kts at 12:03 p.m. Wind: Direction variable S-WSW Sea-level pressure: 29.91 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 40 miles, distant haze 6-hour max temp: 44F BHO SA 1755 E100 OVC 40 127/43/25/2114/991/ FEW CU E-S BINOVC DSNT SE-SSW HIER CLD VSB DSNT SE-SSW DSNT HZ PK WND 1930/03/ WND 18V24/ 8/17/ 58021 10044 20031 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 1 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....36 NORMAL.....40 MIN.....27 NORMAL.....24 MEAN....32 NORMAL.....32 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...................0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...................0 HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............33 DEPARTURE........-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............33 DEPARTURE........-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4555 DEPARTURE.......-82 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....4454 DIFFERENCE.....+101 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..............37 WNW AT 3:23 A.M. AEROVANE...............40 WNW AT 2:37 A.M. ASOS...................38 NW AT 1:35 A.M. DAVIS..................39 NW AT 2:37 A.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY............29 WNW AT 3:28 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.............26 NW AT 3:13 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE............29 WNW AT 3:13 A.M. AVERRAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......14.3 WNW ASOS.................12.8 DAVIS................14.2 [280 DEG] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE.......-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.00 DEPARTURE.......-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........10.93 DEPARTURE.......+1.94 ASOS..............11.61** ** 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........-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH............... 0.0 DEPARTURE........-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............89.7 DEPARTURE.......+43.8 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY & MARCH 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/+18/0.00/0.0/276/43 22 WSW 2/18 59/39/49/+20/0.05/0.0/238/37 56 W AERO 65 MPH W TSTM 2/19 45/14/30/+1/0.00/0.0/342/53 60 W AERO 66 MPH W 2/20 33/13/23/-6/0.00/0.0/623/96 45 WNW AERO 48 MPH WNW 2/21 27/11/19/-10/0.05/1.0/085/13 35 WNW AERO 39 MPH NW 2/22 34/8/21/-9/0.00/0.0/654/100 28 WNW AERO 29 MPH WNW 2/23 38/14/26/-4/0.00/0.0/657/100 24 WNW 2/24 42/22/32/+2/T/T/442/67 31 S AERO 33 MPH S 2/25 41/25/33/+2/1.63/1.5/000/00 50 WNW AERO 56 MPH WNW 2/26 35/21/28/-3/T/T/406/61 36 W AERO 39 MPH W 2/27 31/21/26/-5/0.26/3.4/000/00 22 NNW 2/28 47/23/35/+4/0.44/T/000/00 40 S AERO 45 MPH S 3/1 36/27/32/0/0.00/0.0/.../.. 37 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW 3/2 our morning low temp: 26F; the normal low is 24F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2011 None DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2011 None so far DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 2 HIGH 63 IN 2004 LOW -3 IN 1886 PRE 2.15 INS. IN 1983 SNOW 8.2 INS. IN 2009 WIND 75 MPH NW IN 1966 RECORDS FOR MARCH 3 HIGH 64 IN 1991 LOW -1 IN 1950 PRECIP 2.36 INS. IN 1972 SNOWFALL 12.8 INS. IN 1960 PEAK GUST 78e MPH E IN 1942 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Chris Torchia/Mike Iacono