BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME DEVELOPING STORM FAR OFFSHORE HAVING MINIMAL IMPACT ON THE SUMMIT TODAY...JUST OVER oNE-HALF INCH OF SNOW THROUGH 1 PM WITH LIGHT SNOW CONTINUING... Precipitation began as light rain just before midnight then changed to light snow before sunrise. This accumulated to 0.3 inch by 7 AM. Light snow has continued through the morning, though too lightly to accumulute much of the time. An additional 0.3 inch was measured for the 6 hours ending at 1 PM, for a storm total of 0.6 inch. These amounts were measured on the snow boards; no snow has accumulated on the paved areas with the temperature close to freezing. The total melted equivalent precipitation was 0.11 inch for the 24 hours ending at 7 AM, with an additional 0.04 inch measured in the 6 hours ending at 1 PM. The winds have been very light all morning, though the direction has veered from SSW just before sunrise to NNW at 2 PM as the developing storm passes off shore. A cold front approaching from the west will move through over night and drop the temperature dramatically by tomorrow morning. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Sky obscured in light snow and fog, total new snow past 24 hours 0.3 inch Temperature: 31F, Dew point: 31F, Wind: W at 5 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.80 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 1/8 miles 6-hour min. temp: 31F 24-hour precipitation: 0.11 inch 24-hour snowfall: 0.3 inch BHO SA 1155 W2 X 1/8S-F 092/31/31/2605/980/ TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.3 IN WND LGT/ 8//// 58014 600// 70011 10034 20031 10 A.M. Weather: Sky partly obscured in light snow and fog, total new snow past 3 hours 0.1 inch, storm total 0.4 inch Temperature: 31F, Dew Point: 31F; Wind: NW at 6 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.75 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 1 1/2 miles 3-hour precipitation: 0.01 inch 3-hour snowfall: 0.1 inch BHO SA 1455 –X E4 BKN 15 BKN E35 OVC 11/2S-F 076/31/31/3206/975/ SF5 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 3 HRS 0.1 IN STORM TOTAL 0.4 IN WND LGT/ 8/72/ 58016 6001/ 1 P.M. Weather: Sky partly obscured in light snow and fog, total new snow past 3 hours 0.3 inch, storm total 0.6 inch Temperature: 32F, Dew Point: 32F; Wind: NNW at 6 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.65 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 2 miles 6-hour max. temp: 32F 6-hour precipitation: 0.04 inch 6-hour snowfall: 0.3 inch BHO SA 1755 –X E7 BKN 30 BKN 45 OVC 2S-F 041/32/32/3406/965/ SF2 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 0.3 IN STORM TOTAL 0.6 IN WND LGT/ 8/72/ 58035 6004/ 10032 20031 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....49 NORMAL.....36 MIN.....30 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....40 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+13 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+80 [+7.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............25 DEPARTURE.........-13 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............306 DEPARTURE.........-80 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3087 DEPARTURE........-835 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......3894 DIFFERENCE.......-807 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............32 SSW AT 7:01 P.M. * AERO..................35 SSW AT 2:26 P.M. ASOS..................32 SW AT 7:01 P.M. DAVIS.................32 SSW AT 2:26 P.M. RMY 34 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........25 SSW AT 5:18 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............25 SSW AT 7:02 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........25 SSW AT 7:02 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......13.6 SSW ASOS................13.2 DAVIS...............12.4 SW (224 deg) * Last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.11 DEPARTURE..........-0.03 ASOS..............0.10 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.11 DEPARTURE..........-1.24 ASOS..............0.10 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........3.30 DEPARTURE..........-2.37 ASOS...............3.34 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.3 DEPARTURE..........-0.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.3 DEPARTURE..........-6.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............16.8 DEPARTURE.........-19.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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 2/1 58/31/45/+19/T/0.0/174/29 39 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW RMY 41 2/2 40/28/34/+8/T/0.0/000/00 25 WNW AERO 25 MPH WNW RMY N/A 2/3 37/22/30/+4/0.00/0.0/574/95 28 NW AERO 28 MPH NW RMY 29 2/4 43/24/34/+8/0.00/0.0/498/82 28 WNW AERO 31 MPH WNW RMY 30 2/5 34/18/26/0/0.00/0.0/597/98 18 W AERO 17 MPH W RMY N/A 2/6 49/24/37/+11/0.00/0.0/599/98 33 WSW AERO 32 MPH WSW RMY 34 2/7 43/27/35/+8/0.00/0.0/596/97 24 NNW AERO 28 MPH NNW RMY 24 2/8 37/17/27/0/0.00/0.0/388/63 22 N AERO 21 MPH N RMY 24 2/9 45/26/36/+9/0.00/0.0/.../.. 21 NW AERO 21 MPH W RMY 21 2/10 49/30/40/+13/.../0.0/.../.. 32 SSW AERO 35 MPH SSW RMY 34 2/11 morning low temp: 31F; the normal low is now 18F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2012 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 11 HIGH 60F IN 1981 LOW -10F IN 1899 PRECIP 1.07 INCHES IN 1955 SNOWFALL 9.6 INCHES IN 1933 PEAK GUST 95 MPH S IN 1981 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 12 HIGH 56F IN 1999 LOW -14F IN 1914 PRECIP 4.85 INCHES IN 1886 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 15.0 INCHES IN 2006 PEAK GUST 70 MPH E IN 1985 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono