BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME HOTTEST TEMPERATURE OF 2012 OBSERVED TODAY; YET A LITTLE SHY OF THE RECORD FOR THE DATE Through 3 PM EDT, today's high temperature has reached 95.0F, marking the warmest day of 2012 so far. Today's heat beat out the 93.6F maximum temperature recorded on June 21. While it certainly is hot, the record for the date of 96F set in 1999 seems to be just a bit out of reach. Scattered altocumulus clouds streaming in from the NW seem to be keeping the temperature in check just enough to prevent a new record high temperature from being set. The day started quite warm with a low of only 71F. Temperatures warmed up very quickly this morning, reaching 80F shortly after 8 AM EDT, and reaching 90F at 11 AM EDT. The dew point temperature has been in the upper 60s all day, pushing the heat index into the upper 90s. The moisture in the air is also providing for plenty of haze which is limiting visibility to 20-25 miles. Yesterday, a cool, refreshing sea breeze knocked temperatures back several degrees after the high temperature of 91F was reached. No such heat-relieving sea breeze will be found today with a brisk SW-W flow. Gusts are occasionally reaching 20-30 mph. For the 3 weeks ending July 16, only 0.42 inch of precipitation has been observed. That was only 18% of average. The rainfall deficit over this 3 week period was 1.96 inches. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered dense cirrus, scattered thin cirrus, altocumulus SSE-W-N, few altocumulus lenticularis distant SW-N, few patches of dense cirrus distant NNW-N, cirrus all quadrants except NE-SE, smoke layer distant NW-NE and distant SE-SW, hazy Temperature: 78F; Dew Point 68F; Wind: WSW at 3 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.81 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, hazy 24-hour precip: Trace 6-hour min. temp: 71F BHO SA 1155 120 SCT 220 SCT 250 –SCT 25 095/78/68/2403/981/ AC SSE-W-N FEW ACSL DSNT SW-N FEW PTCHS DNS CI DSNT NNW-N CI ALQDS XCPT NE-SE K LYR DSNT NW-NE AND DSNT SE-SW HAZY WND LGT/ 8/042 52007 MANUAL 7000/ 10078 20071 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered dense cirrus, broken thin cirrus, few small cumulus forming E-SSE, altocumulus and a few altocumulus lenticularis distant WNW-NE, few patches of dense cirrus distant NW-N-E, hazy Temperature: 90F; Dew Point: 67F; Wind: SW at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable S-W Sea-level pressure: 29.80 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 25 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 120 SCT 220 SCT 250 –BKN 25 091/90/67/2207/980/ FEW SML CU FRMG E-SSE AC AND FEW ACSL DSNT WNW-NE FEW PTCHS DNS CI DSNT NW-N-E HAZY WND 18V27/ 8/142 57004 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, few small cumulus NNE-SE-SSW, altocumulus all quadrants, altocumulus castellanus distant WSW-N, few altocumulus lenticularis distant ESE-SSE and distant SSW-WNW, hazy Temperature: 93F; Dew Point 67F; Heat index: 97F; Wind: WSW at 12G22 kts, Wind: Direction variable SSW-W Sea-level pressure: 29.75 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 20 miles, hazy 6-hour max temp: 94F BHO SA 1755 120 SCT 20 074/93/67/2412G22/975/ FEW SML CU NNE-SE-SSW AC ALQDS ACC DSNT WSW-N FEW ACSL DSNT ESE-SSE AND DSNT SSW-WNW HAZY WND 20V27 HEAT INDEX 97/ 8/180 58017 10094 20078 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, JULY 16 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....91 NORMAL.....81 MIN.....70 NORMAL.....63 MEAN....81 NORMAL.....72 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+9 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+76 [+4.6 DEGREES/DAY] PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............23 NW AT 12:00 P.M. AERO..................23 NW AT 12:00 P.M. * ASOS..................23 NW AT 12:39 P.M. DAVIS.................23 W AT 12:00 P.M. RMY 24 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........17 NW AT 12:00 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............17 NW AT 12:01 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........17 WNW AT 12:01 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........8.2 W ASOS.................7.6 DAVIS................7.6 W [277 deg] *...Last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...Trace DEPARTURE...........-0.13 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.38 DEPARTURE...........-1.55 ASOS..............0.36 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........18.07 DEPARTURE..........-10.83 ASOS.............17.98 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JULY 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 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 7/1 89/67/78/+8/0.01/676/74 33 WSW AERO 32 MPH WSW RMY 34 7/2 84/66/75/+5/T/644/71 23 W AERO 22 MPH W RMY 23 7/3 85/63/74/+3/0.00/787/86 23 W AERO 21 MPH W RMY 20 7/4 85/66/76/+5/0.37/480/53 20 W AERO 20 MPH W RMY 23 7/5 81/68/75/+4/0.00/729/80 23 NW AERO 23 MPH NW RMY 22 7/6 86/64/75/+4/0.00/753/83 18 SSW AERO 18 MPH SSW RMY 19 7/7 81/69/75/+4/T/224/25 23 W AERO 23 MPH W RMY 24 7/8 87/66/77/+5/0.00/814/90 23 W AERO 23 MPH W RMY 25 7/9 82/61/72/0/0.00/738/85 22 W AERO 21 MPH W RMY 23 7/10 83/61/72/0/0.00/852/98 18 W AERO 18 MPH W RMY 18 7/11 84/64/74/+2/0.00/768/88 21 W AERO 21 MPH W RMY 23 7/12 89/64/77/+5/0.00/.../.. 25 SSW AERO 25 MPH SSW RMY 26 7/13 89/66/78/+6/0.00/.../.. 28 S AERO 27 MPH S RMY 29 7/14 90/69/80/+8/0.00/.../.. 24 W AERO 22 MPH W RMY 23 7/15 91/68/80/+8/T/.../.. 18 SW AERO 18 MPH SSW RMY 20 7/16 91/70/81/+9/T/.../.. 23 NW AERO 23 MPH NW RMY 24 7/17 morning low temp: 71F; the normal low is now 63F DAILY RECORDS FOR JULY 2012 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JULY 17 HIGH 96F IN 1999 LOW 47F IN 1892 PRECIP 1.39 INS IN 1989 WIND 46 MPH WNW IN 1971 RECORDS FOR JULY 18 HIGH 96F IN 1991, 1999 LOW 54F IN 1892, 1956, 1971 PRECIP 1.65 INS IN 2000 WIND 43e MPH SW IN 1949 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser