BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY 
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
 
DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

TEMPERATURES ON THE RISE TO NEAR 70F AND CONTINUING 
THE LONG STRETCH OF WARMER THAN NORMAL DAYS TO 11 DAYS
VERY LONG DRY SPELL GOES ON WITH SEVERE SHORT TERM DROUGHT 

Temperatures started out at 44F this morning, or still 5 
degrees warmer than normal and by early afternoon we 
were approaching 70 degrees continuing a trend of 11 
consecutive positive departure days. 

The 0.76 inch of precipitation that we've received on the summit from
March 4 - April 18 (over 6.5 weeks) is only 10% of the normal
precipitation (8.00 ins.) that would be expected in that time frame.

Today's observations:
 
7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altocumulus, broken altocumulus, broken cirrus, 
lower altocumulus SE-SW, sky clearing W-N
Temperature: 48F, Dew point: 43F, Wind: SSW at 6 kts,
Wind: Direction gradually veering 
Sea-level pressure: 30.11 inches Hg, rising then falling
Visibility: 35 miles, except 20 miles SE-S, 45 miles WNW,
hazy all quadrants  
6-hour min. temp: 44F
BHO SA 1155 75 SCT E120 BKN 250 BKN 35 195/48/43/2106/011/ LWR AC SE-S 
SKY CLRG/MSTLY CLR SKY W-N APPRCHNG VSBY SE-S 20 WNW 45 HAZY ALQDS
WND GRDLY VEERING/ 8/071 50003 10048 20044  
  
10 A.M. 
Weather:  Thin scattered cirrus, cumulus fractus, cumulus, forming all
quadrants, lower cirrus E-S and dense cirrus layer distant SE-S  
Temperature: 61F, Dew Point: 38F; Wind: WSW at 7 kts,
Wind: Direction variable S-NW 
Sea-level pressure: 30.09 inches Hg, falling then more rapidly 
Visibility: 60 miles, except 40 miles NE-SE, light distant haze 
BHO SA 1455 300 –SCT 60 191/61/38/2407/009/ CUFRA/CU FRMG ALQDS 
THN CI OVHD LWR CI E-S AND CI LYR DSNT SE-S VSBY NE-SE 40 
LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS WND 18V31/ 5/101 58004 

1 P.M.  
Weather: Clear, few cumulus fractus overhead, cumulus and cumulus
fractus ESE-S-SW 
Temperature: 67F, Dew Point: 33F; Wind: W at 4 kts,
Wind: Light 
Sea-level pressure: 30.05 inches Hg, falling then more slowly 
Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze  
6-hour max. temp: 68F  
BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 175/67/33/2604/005/ FEW CUFRA OVHD CU ESE-S-SW
WND LGT LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/100 56016 10068 20048 
 
WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....61    NORMAL.....57
MIN.....45    NORMAL.....39
MEAN....53    NORMAL.....48
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+5
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+112 [+6.0 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............12   DEPARTURE..........-6
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............270   DEPARTURE........-105
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4555   DEPARTURE.......-1284
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5748   DIFFERENCE......-1193

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............27 NNW AT  2:26 A.M.  
                   AERO..................27 NNW AT  2:26 A.M.  
                   ASOS..................29 NNW AT  2:26 A.M.  
                   DAVIS.................26 NW  AT  2-3  A.M. RMY N/A 
THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........18 NNW AT  2:27 A.M.  
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............17 NNW AT  2:27 A.M.  
DAVIS MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE AVERAGE...........17 NNW AT  2-3  A.M.    
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION....... 9.7 NNW	
                   ASOS.................8.7
                   DAVIS................9.0 N [360 deg.]
 
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..........0.35   DEPARTURE..........-2.59
                         ASOS..............0.32
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........6.44   DEPARTURE.........-10.50
                         ASOS..............6.47
	
SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0    DEPARTURE..........-0.1
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0    DEPARTURE..........-1.9
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............24.2    DEPARTURE.........-34.6

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR APRIL 2012 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
RMY:  RMY = R.M. Young wind gust recording system added 8/9/2011
TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day)
....: Data not yet available, records not finalized
 
4/1  50/34/42/+1/0.14/0.0/360/47    20 SSW AERO 20 MPH SSW RMY N/A
4/2  51/35/43/+2/0.04/T/353/46      35 NNW AERO 33 MPH NNW RMY 35
4/3  57/31/44/+2/0.00/0.0/724/94    36 NW  AERO 37 MPH NW  RMY 40
4/4  62/38/50/+8/T/0.0/688/89	    40 NW  AERO 39 MPH NW  RMY 43
4/5  51/33/42/-1/0.00/0.0/660/85    29 NW  AERO 27 MPH NW  RMY 30
4/6  51/31/41/-2/0.00/0.0/623/80    26 NNW AERO 26 MPH NNW RMY 28
4/7  54/32/43/0/0.00/0.0/305/39     31 NW  AERO 32 MPH NW  RMY 32
4/8  51/37/44/0/0.00/0.0/086/11     32 NW  AERO 31 MPH NW  RMY 33
4/9  57/43/50/+6/T/0.0/323/41       44 W   AERO 42 MPH W   RMY 44
4/10 61/40/51/+6/0.00/0.0/600/76    32 W   AERO 31 MPH W   RMY 34 
4/11 57/40/49/+4/0.00/0.0/397/50    21 NE  AERO 20 MPH NE  RMY 22
4/12 54/39/47/+2/0.16/0.0/127/16    25 NNW AERO 24 MPH NNW RMY 28
4/13 63/36/50/+4/0.00/0.0/782/98    24 W   AERO 23 MPH W   RMY 25
4/14 70/44/57/+11/0.00/0.0/617/77   25 SSW AERO 27 MPH SSW RMY 28
4/15 75/52/64/+17/T/0.0/426/53      23 W   AERO 23 MPH W   RMY 25
4/16 89/57/73/+26/0.01/0.0/678/84   28 SSW AERO 30 MPH SSW RMY 32
4/17 83/53/68/+21/0.00/0.0/777/96   28 W   AERO 28 MPH W   RMY 32 
4/18 61/45/53/+5/0.00/0.0/.../..    27 NNW AERO 27 MPH NNW RMY N/A 

4/19 the morning low temp: 44F; the normal low is now 39F

DAILY RECORDS FOR APRIL 2012
4/16 - NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMP OF 89F;
surpasses the previous record of 87F in 1896.

DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):

RECORDS FOR APRIL 19
HIGH 94 IN 1976 [RECORD FOR MONTH]
LOW 21 IN 1890
PRECIP 1.71 IN 1969
SNOWFALL 6.0 IN. IN 1887
PEAK GUST 66 MPH E IN 1984

RECORDS FOR APRIL 20
HIGH 88 IN 1927
LOW 18 IN 1897
PRECIP 1.14 IN 1972
SNOWFALL 2.5 IN. IN 1904, 1972
PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1963

TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling 

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