BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME EARLY MORNING LOW TEMPERATURES DROP TO 40'S BELOW SUMMIT SUNNY WARMER AND STILL VERY DRY AIR TODAY HAZE LAYER SPREADS IN ALOFT BUT SURFACE VISIBILITY STILL UP TO 70 TO 75 MILES A VERY SUNNY AUGUST NOT FAR BELOW SUNNIEST ON RECORD Low temperatures were 48F at nearby Norwood Airport and 47F at Taunton Airport and maximum cooling occurred overnight last night with dew points in the 40's. Here at the summit our low was 56F or the same as yesterday and 4 degrees cooler than normal. Warmer air is arriving today but it's still dry with the dew point near 50 degrees. After 29 days the averaged monthly corrected temperature is 0.3 degrees above the warmest August of 72.5 in 1988. We may have our warmest August as the temperatures rise today and very warm to hot comes in tomorrow to finish August and the meteorological summer. August has been a very suuny month with 67% of the possible bright sunshine through 29 days. The record sunniest August had 74% of the possible bright sunshine. A haze layer has spread over the whole sky by early this afternoon but surface visibility is still up around 70 to 75 miles but down from the 80 to 85 miles of Wednesday. A list of the warmest August records record can be viewed below. 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 29th is 72.8F. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Sky perfectly clear, [SKC] Temperature: 61F; Dew Point: 50F; Wind: WNW at 8 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.05 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 70 miles, light distant haze 6-hour min. temp: 56F BHO SA 1155 CLR 70 175/61/50/2908/005/ SKC LGT DSNT HZ/ 53018 10061 20056 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, patch cirrus vicinity NW and patch cirrus distant WSW and few cirrus distant WNW, partial haze layer aloft Temperature: 74F; Dew Point: 50F; Wind: WSW @ 8 kts, Wind: Direction variable SSW-WNW Sea-level pressure: 30.05 ins. Hg, rising slightly Visibility: 75 miles, increasing light haze BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 177/74/50/2508/005/ PTCH CI VC NW AND PTCH CI DSNT WSW AND DSNT WNW PARTIAL HZ LYR ALF LGT DSNT HZ INCRSNG WND 20V30/ 8/001 53002 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few cirrus distant WSW and WNW, haze layer aloft all quadrants Temperature: 79F; Dew Point: 49F; Wind: WSW at 10 kts, Wind: Direction variable SSW-WNW Sea-level pressure: 30.01 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze 6-hour max. temp: 79F BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 162/79/49/2510/001/ FEW CI DSNT WSW AND NW HZ LYR ALF ALQDS LGT DSNT HZ WND 20V29/ 8/001 58015 10079 20061 10079 20061 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....74 NORMAL.....77 MIN.....56 NORMAL.....60 MEAN....65 NORMAL.....69 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................-4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+93 [+3.0 DEGREES/DAY] PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............22 NNW AT 8:51 A.M. AERO..................21 NNW AT 8:51 A.M. ASOS..................21 NNW AT 8:55 A.M. DAVIS.................20 NW AT 1-2 A.M. RMY 21 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........15 N AT 1:14 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............15 N AT 1:15 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........14 N AT 1-2 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........8.6 WNW ASOS.................8.3 DAVIS................7.8 NW [320 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE...........-0.11 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.74 DEPARTURE...........-0.07 ASOS..............3.71 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........25.35 DEPARTURE...........-9.45 ASOS.............25.26 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/+4/0.00/650/81 28 S AERO 29 MPH S RMY N/A 8/28 82/66/74/+5/1.00/327/41 29 SSW AERO 30 MPH SSW RMY 30 8/29 74/56/65/-4/0.00/795/100 22 NNW AERO 21 MPH NNW RMY 21 8/30 our morning low temp: 56F; 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 30 HIGH 94F IN 1953 LOW 39F IN 1965 PRECIP 2.75 INCHES IN 1936 PEAK GUST 43 MPH NW IN 1965 RECORDS FOR AUGUST 31 HIGH 94F IN 1953 LOW 42F IN 1976 PRECIP 2.46 INCHES IN 1954 PEAK GUST 125 MPH SE IN 1954 [CAROL - RECORD FOR MONTH] TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Peter Volpe