BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME A COLD AND WINDY TODAY AS ARCTIC AIR ARRIVES AFTER SIX OUT OF PAST SEVEN DAYS HAD AVERAGE TEMPERATURES IN DOUBLE DIGITS ABOVE NORMAL ONE OF OUR LOCAL PONDS HAS COMPLETELY THAWED An early morning snow flurry passed to the north of Blue Hill early this morning and was followed by a windy invasion of Arctic air. Dew points have fallen to near 10 degrees by early this afternoon after being in the 20's early today. Ponkapoag Pond is all open water today (thawed) at likely a record early winter date. Houghton's Pond was back to 8/10 ice cover by early this afternoon. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus, few altocumulus lenticularis SSE, virga and snow showers W-N moving east distant E, cirrus band NE-SW, light distant haze Temperature: 32F, Dew point: 21F, Wind: W at 14 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.96 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles, snow showers W-N, light haze 24-hour precip: 0.00 6-hour min. temp: 32F BHO SA 1155 60 SCT 85 SCT 35 145/32/21/2614/996/ VIRGA/SHSN W-N MOVG E FEW ACSL SSE DSNT HZ WND GRDLY VEERING/ 8/540 53004 10034 20032 10 A.M. Weather: Overcast stratocumulus, few lower cumulus distant S, breaks in overcast Temperature: 33F, Dew Point: 22F; Wind: W at 16G26 kts, Wind: Peak wind WNW at 32 kts @ 9:09 A.M., Wind: Direction variable WSW to NW Sea-level pressure: 30.07 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 80 miles BHO SA 1455 E32 OVC 80 183/33/22/2916G26/007/ FEW LWR CU DSNT S BINOVC PK WND 3032/09/ WND 25V32/ 8/8// 53038 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few small cumulus, stratocumulus Temperature: 36F, Dew Point: 11F; Wind: W at 17G27 kts, Wind: Peak wind 31 kts WNW @ 12:01 P.M. Wind: Direction variable WSW-NW Sea-level pressure: 30.11 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 85 miles 6-hour max. temp: 37F 6-hour min. temp: 32F BHO SA 1755 CLR 85 195/36/11/2817G27/011/ CU/SC ALQDS PK WND 2931/01/ WND 24V32/ 8/800 50012 10037 20032 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....41 NORMAL.....34 MIN.....31 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....36 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+11 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+182 [+6.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............29 DEPARTURE........-10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............967 DEPARTURE.......-162 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........2720 DEPARTURE.......-738 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....3418 DIFFERENCE......-698 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............43 W AT 3:09 A.M. AERO..................46 W AT 3:09 A.M. ASOS..................43 W AT 3:10 A.M. DAVIS.................38 W AT 3:10 A.M. RMY 39 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........29 W AT 3:10 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............28 W AT 3:13 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........26 W AT 3:12 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......16.1 W ASOS................14.9 DAVIS...............14.5 WSW (250 deg) *Last of several occurrences... 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..........3.19 DEPARTURE..........-0.89 ASOS..............3.24 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........3.19 DEPARTURE..........-0.89 ASOS...............3.24 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE..........-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................8.0 DEPARTURE..........-6.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............16.5 DEPARTURE.........-11.7 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/+9/0.01/0.1/133/24 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/-5/0.10/1.1/372/65 27 SE AERO 28 MPH ESE RMY 28 1/20 29/17/23/-2/0.06/0.7/385/67 30 W AERO 30 MPH W RMY 30 1/21 20/13/17/-8/0.29/3.4/000/00 25 N AERO 25 MPH N RMY 25 1/22 28/11/20/-5/0.00/0.0/266/46 20 NNW AERO 20 MPH NNW RMY 20 1/23 49/26/38/+13/0.18/0.1/000/00 36 S AERO 36 MPH S RMY 37 1/24 56/38/47/+22/0.01/0.0/407/70 36 S AERO 37 MPH S RMY N/A 1/25 41/32/37/+11/0.00/0.0/479/82 36 WNW AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 37 1/26 40/28/34/+9/0.19/0.4/.../.. 20 E AERO 17 MPH E RMY N/A 1/27 47/33/40/+15/0.62/0.0/000/00 51 W AERO 50 MPH W RMY 50 1/28 46/32/39/+14/T/0.0/.../.. 40 W AERO 39 MPH W RMY 39 1/29 41/31/36/+11/0.00/0.0/.../.. 43 W AERI 46 MPH W RMY N/A 1/30 low temp since midnight 31F; 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 30 HIGH 60F IN 1914 LOW -8F IN 1948 PRECIP 1.12 INS. IN 1925 SNOWFALL 6.5 INS. IN 1986 PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1962 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 31 HIGH 58F IN 1913, 1947 LOW -12F IN 1920 PRECIP 1.03 INS. IN 1914 SNOWFALL 9.0 INS. IN 1898 PEAK GUST 75 MPH NW IN 1974 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Patrick Peters