BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME VERY WARM! OVERNIGHT SHOWERS BRING 0.19 INCH OF RAIN A very warm air mass, a mostly clear sky, and a S-SW flow are all combining to provide for a very warm, spring-like day today. Temperatures are running a 20-25 degrees above average! The low temperature thus far has been 46F (normal 17F), but today's low will likely be a bit lower than that as a colder air mass enters the region tonight. The high temperature has reached 56F this afternoon, just a few degrees shy of the record for the date of 60F set in 1967. The warmth began yesterday, breaking our recent cool streak. Prior to the warmth, temperatures averaged below normal for 4 consecutive days from January 19-22. That was the longest below normal streak in approximately two and a half months (October 26 - November 2). Overnight rain showers provided 0.19 inch of rainfall to the summit. The rain was light for the most part with a few brief periods of moderate rain. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus (2 levels), broken altocumulus, broken altostratus, ceiling ragged, stratocumulus layers dissipating, few altocumulus lenticularis occasionally visible NNE, thin fog/haze all quadrants Temperature: 48F, Dew point: 47F, Wind: SSW at 14 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.90 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, thin fog/haze all quadrants 24-hour precip: 0.19 inch 6-hour precip: 0.01 inch Snow depth: zero 6-hour min. temp: 48F BHO SA 1155 E7 BKN 12 BKN 120 BKN 160 OVC 25 125/48/47/2114/990/ CIG RGD SC LYRS DSPTNG FEW ACSL OCNLY VSBL NNE THN FG/HZ ALQDS/ 8/54/ 52007 MANUAL 70019 ASOS 70020 MANUAL 60001 ASOS 60001 10051 20048 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altocumulus, scattered dense cirrus, scattered thin cirrus, cumulus/cumulus fractus WSW-N-ENE, few altocumulus lenticularis distant NNE-ENE, cirrus and patches of dense cirrus N-E-SW, thin smoke layer distant all quadrants, distant haze Temperature: 48F, Dew Point: 44F; Wind: SW at 12G20 kts, Wind: Direction variable S-W Sea-level pressure: 29.92 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 30 miles, distant haze BHO SA 1455 10 SCT 120 SCT 200 SCT 250 –SCT 30 133/48/44/2312G20/992/ CU/CUFRA WSW-N-ENE FEW ACSL DSNT NNE-ENE CI AND PTCHS DNS CI N-E-SW THN K LYR DSNT ALQDS DSNT HZ WND 19V26/ 8/142 53008 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cirrostratus, scattered thin cirrus, few cumulus/ cumulus fractus distant WNW-NE, cirrostratus layer distant ENE-S, few cirrus distant SW invading the sky, thin smoke layer distant W-NW-NE, light distant haze Temperature: 54F, Dew Point: 44F; Wind: WSW at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable SSW-W Sea-level pressure: 29.90 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 45 miles, light distant haze 6-hour max. temp: 55F 6-hour min. temp: 46F BHO SA 1755 220 SCT 250 –SCT 45 125/54/44/2407/990/ FEW CU/CUFRA DSNT WNW-NE CS LYR DSNT ENE-S FEW CI DSNT SW INVADING THN K LYR DSNT W-NW-NE LGT DSNT HZ WND 20V27/ 8/104 58008 10055 20046 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 23 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....49 NORMAL.....34 MIN.....26 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....38 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+13 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+99 [+4.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............27 DEPARTURE........-13 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............810 DEPARTURE........-84 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........2563 DEPARTURE.......-660 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....3157 DIFFERENCE......-594 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............36 S AT 11:55 P.M. * AERO..................36 S AT 11:55 P.M. * ASOS..................37 S AT 11:56 P.M. DAVIS.................36 S AT 11:25 P.M. RMY 37 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........29 S AT 11:42 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............29 S AT 11:42 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........27 SSE AT 11:42 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......13.9 SE ASOS................13.3 DAVIS...............12.8 SE [138 deg] *Last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.19 DEPARTURE..........+0.05 ASOS..............0.20 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........2.38 DEPARTURE..........-0.88 ASOS..............2.43 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........2.38 DEPARTURE..........-0.88 ASOS...............2.43 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........Trace DEPARTURE..........-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................7.6 DEPARTURE..........-3.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............16.1 DEPARTURE..........-9.0 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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 1/1 51/35/42/+16/0.01/0.0/494/90 35 S AERO 35 MPH S RMY 37 1/2 48/30/39/+12/0.02/T/346/63 36 W AERO 36 MPH W RMY 37 1/3 30/11/21/-5/0.00/0.0/446/81 39 NW AERO 38 MPH NW RMY 39 1/4 26/7/17/-9/0.00/0.0/468/85 28 NW AERO 25 MPH NW RMY N/A 1/5 35/20/28/+2/T/T/166/30 27 W AERO 25 MPH W RMY 26 1/6 47/23/35/+9/0.01/0.1/.../.. 26 S AERO 25 MPH S RMY 27 1/7 59/39/49/+23/0.00/0.0/477/86 29 WSW AERO 29 MPH SW RMY 30 1/8 43/26/35/+9/0.00/0.0/367/66 28 W AERO 27 MPH W RMY N/A 1/9 39/21/30/+4/0.00/0.0/384/69 22 S AERO 21 MPH S RMY 24 1/10 43/28/36/+11/0.05/0.5/379/68 29 WNW AERO 30 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/11 38/27/33/+8/0.00/0.0/448/80 24 E AERO 24 MPH E RMY N/A 1/12 40/31/36/+11/1.37/0.1/000/00 52 ENE AERO 52 MPH NE RMY 49 1/13 50/27/39/+14/0.06/T/174/31 63 SW AERO 67 MPH SW RMY 67 1/14 33/16/25/0/0.00/0.0/451/80 36 WSW AERO 37 MPH WSW RMY 35 1/15 16/4/10/-15/0.00/0.0/555/98 36 NW AERO 36 MPH NW RMY 37 1/16 31/5/18/-7/0.11/1.2/408/72 32 SSW AERO 32 MPH SSW RMY N/A 1/17 46/31/39/+14/0.11/0.4/000/00 35 SW AERO 36 MPH SW RMY N/A 1/18 49/18/34/+9/0.00/0.0/564/99 56 WNW AERO 55 MPH WNW RMY 56 1/19 28/12/20/-5/0.10/1.1/.../.. 27 SE AERO 28 MPH ESE RMY 28 1/20 29/17/23/-2/0.06/0.7/.../.. 30 W AERO 30 MPH W RMY 30 1/21 20/13/17/-8/0.29/3.4/.../.. 25 N AERO 25 MPH N RMY 25 1/22 28/11/20/-5/0.00/0.0.../.. 20 NNW AERO 20 MPH NNW RMY 20 1/23 49/26/38/+13/0.18/0.1/.../.. 36 S AERO 36 MPH S RMY 37 1/24 our morning low temp: 46F; the normal low is now 17F DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2012 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 24 HIGH 60F IN 1967 LOW -12F IN 1907 PRECIP 2.04 INS. IN 1998 SNOWFALL 11.3 INS. IN 1935 PEAK GUST 82 MPH S IN 1996 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 25 HIGH 56F IN 2010 LOW -10F IN 1935 PRECIP 2.24 INS. IN 1979 SNOWFALL 12.5 INS. IN 1941 PEAK GUST 81 MPH WNW IN 1972 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser