BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME HEAVY DOWNPOURS PROVIDE 1.00 INCH OF RAINFALL THIS MORNING, TEMPERATURES CONTINUE ABOVE NORMAL; 1ST ANNIVERSARY OF TROPICAL STORM IRENE Heavy downpours fell on the summit this morning on two separate occasions. The first occurred right around 2 AM EDT, and provided 0.31 inch of precipitation. This was followed by light, intermittent rain showers until just before 8 AM EDT. The second round of moderate to heavy rain occurred during the 8-10 AM EDT hours, adding another 0.69 inch. That brought our daily total to 1.00 inch. No thunder occurred during either downpour this morning. Dense fog developed quite rapidly after the rain ended, reducing visibility to zero at times on the summit. As has been the rule for the month of August, temperatures are running a few degrees above normal today. A list of the warmest Augusts on record can be viewed below. Today marks the first anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene which had widespread impacts across a large portion of the Northeast. Here on the summit a peak wind gust of 77 mph from the SE was recorded, along with 1.98 inches of total precipitation from the 27th through the 28th. BHO Warmest Augusts (deg F), 1885-2011: 1) 72.5 in 1988 2) 72.3 in 2005 3) 72.1 in 2002 4) 72.0 in 2001 The corrected mean temperature for August through the 27th is 73.0 F. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Light rain and fog, sky partially obscured by fog, broken altocumulus, overcast altocumulus, stratus drifting over/below summit, few lower cumulus N, occasional very light and intermittent rain continued from previous hour and ended at an unknown time, light rain shower began at 6:41 AM EST and ended at 6:46 AM EST, light rain began at 6:50 AM EST and continued Temperature: 72F; Dew Point: 71F; Wind: SW at 7 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.84 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 3 miles, light rain and fog, ENE-SW 2 miles, WSW-NE 4 miles 24-hour precip: 0.31 inch 6-hour precip: 0.31 inch 6-hour min. temp: 69F BHO SA 1155 –X E80 BKN 100 OVC 3R-F 105/72/71/2207/984/ F4 STRA DRFTNG OVR/BLO SMT FEW LWR CU N VSBY ENE-SW 2 WSW-NE 4 OCNL R- VRY LGT AND INTMT CTD EUKN RW-B41E46 R-B50 CTD/ 8/72/ 57007 MANUAL 70031 ASOS 70031 MANUAL 60031 ASOS 60031 10072 20069 10 A.M. Weather: Dense fog, sky partially obscured by fog, stratus drifting over summit, partial clearing occasionally visible distant WNW-NNW, fog increased rapidly about 9:30 AM EST, light rain continued from previous hour, becoming light drizzle about 9:15 AM EST and ended at 9:19 AM EST Temperature: 68F; Dew Point: 68F; Wind: SSE at 7 kts, Wind: Wind shift at 9:18 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.80 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 1/16 mile, dense fog 3-hour precip: 0.69 inch BHO SA 1455 –X E80 BKN 100 BKN 1/16F 091/68/68/1507/980/ F5 STRA DRFTNG OVR SMT PRTL CLRNG OCNLY VSBL DSNT WNW-NNW FG INCRSD RPDLY ABT30 WND SHFT 18 R-CTD BCMG L- ABT15 E19/ 8/770 57014 MANUAL 60069 ASOS 60070 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altocumulus, moderate cumulus all quadrants, cumulus fractus all quadrants, towering cumulus distant NW-NNW, altocumulus distant ENE, distant haze Temperature: 80F; Dew Point: 69F; Wind: WNW at 6 kts, Wind: Direction variable SW-NNW Sea-level pressure: 29.76 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 45 miles, distant haze 6-hour precip: 0.69 inch 6-hour max. temp: 80F 6-hour min. temp: 67F BHO SA 1755 20 SCT 100 SCT 45 079/80/69/2906/976/ MDT CU ALQDS CUFRA ALQDS TCU DSNT NW-NNW AC DSNT ENE DSNT HZ WND 23V33/ 8/360 56012 MANUAL 60069 ASOS 60070 10080 20067 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 27 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....84 NORMAL.....78 MIN.....61 NORMAL.....60 MEAN....73 NORMAL.....69 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+92 [+3.2 DEGREES/DAY] PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............28 S AT 5:13 P.M. * AERO..................29 S AT 5:01 P.M. ASOS..................28 S AT 5:14 P.M. DAVIS.................26 SSW AT 4:02 P.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........22 S AT 4:18 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............21 SSW AT 8:56 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........20 S AT 4:19 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......12.3 SW ASOS................11.8 DAVIS...............11.1 SSW [209 deg] * last of several occurrences. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.31 DEPARTURE...........+0.20 ASOS..............0.31 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.05 DEPARTURE...........-0.54 ASOS..............3.01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........24.66 DEPARTURE...........-9.92 ASOS.............24.56 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 2012 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system gust 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 8/1 82/66/74/+2/0.58/390/45 33 W AERO 33 MPH W RMY 35 8/2 87/67/77/+5/T/648/75 20 W AERO 20 MPH W RMY 20 8/3 90/70/80/+8/0.00/707/82 23 SW AERO 23 MPH SW RMY 23 8/4 91/72/82/+10/0.00/713/83 22 S AERP 21 MPH S RMY 23 8/5 87/72/80/+8/0.14/660/77 37 S AERO 37 MPH SSW RMY 37 8/6 82/67/75/+3/0.00/710/83 25 WNW AERO 27 MPH WNW RMY 26 8/7 84/65/75/+3/0.00/725/85 23 S AERO 21 MPH S RMY 23 8/8 87/68/78/+6/0.00/578/68 20 S AERO 18 MPH S RMY 18 8/9 89/68/79/+7/0.00/630/77 25 S AERO 23 MPH S RMY 25 8/10 84/70/77/+6/0.87/228/27 32 SE AERO 32 MPH SE RMY 32 TSTM 8/11 84/69/77/+6/0.00/464/55 25 S AERO 27 MPH S RMY 27 8/12 83/70/77/+6/0.03/420/50 24 S AERO 23 MPH S RMY 23 8/13 84/66/75/+4/0.00/787/94 21 WNW AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY 19 8/14 81/64/73/+2/0.00/451/54 18 W AERO 18 MPH SW RMY 19 8/15 83/63/73/+2/0.89/358/43 33 W AERO 33 MPH W RMY 32 TSTM 8/16 82/64/73/+2/T/714/86 23 WNW AERO 22 MPH WNW RMY 21 8/17 84/65/75/+4/T/729/88 26 S AERO 26 MPH SSW RMY 27 8/18 69/62/66/-5/0.22/0/0 18 WNW AERO 17 MPH WNW RMY 16 8/19 73/56/65/-5/T/353/43 17 N AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY 16 8/20 77/61/69/-1/0.00/312/38 16 SSW AERO 15 MPH SSW RMY 16 8/21 81/62/72/+2/0.01/539/66 21 W AERO 20 MPH W RMY 19 8/22 82/62/72/+2/0.00/766/94 17 W AERO 17 MPH SW RMY N/A 8/23 85/63/74/+4/0.00/771/95 21 SSW AERO 21 MPH SSW RMY 21 8/24 80/65/73/+3/0.00/648/80 18 W AERO 16 MPH W RMY 16 8/25 80/64/72/+3/0.00/492/61 20 ESE AER0 18 MPH ESE RMY 18 8/26 80/63/72/+3/0.00/675/84 17 SW AERO 15 MPH SW RMY 16 8/27 84/61/73/+4/0.00/.../.. 28 S AERO 29 MPH S RMY N/A 8/28 our morning low temp: 69F; the normal low is now 60F DAILY RECORDS FOR AUGUST 2012 8/4 - DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMP OF 72F; ties the current record of 72F in 1974. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR AUGUST 28 HIGH 95F IN 1948 LOW 43F IN 1885 PRECIP 1.80 INCHES IN 1922 PEAK GUST 87 MPH SSE IN 1971 (DORIA) RECORDS FOR AUGUST 29 HIGH 95F IN 1953 LOW 41F IN 1982 PRECIP 2.88 INCHES IN 1962 PEAK GUST 70e MPH S IN 1949 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser