BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME STRONG COLD FRONT SWEEPS EARLY THIS MORNING: PEAK WIND GUST OF 61 MPH, TEMPERATURE DROPS 20 DEGREES A strong cold front swept past the summit shortly after 2 AM this morning. Ahead of the front, winds were quite strong all day yesterday. In fact, for the 12 consecutive hours from 2 PM Thursday through 2 AM Friday, the average hourly wind did not dip below 30 mph. At 28.8 mph, Thursday's average wind speed was the highest daily wind speed since Tropical Storm Irene brought a daily average of 31.3 mph on August 28 last year. Prior to the front's passage, winds gusted to a peak of 61 mph from the SSW shortly after midnight this morning. As the front passed, the wind direction quickly shifted from SSW to WNW. Thursday's record high temperature of 66F beat the old record of 63F set in 1942 and 1995. The daily temperature averaged an incredible 24 degrees above normal yesterday! Our high temperature of 57F today occurred before the front swept through, and will help leave today's daily temperature more than 10 degrees above normal. Once the front swept through shortly after 2 AM, the temperature dropped dramatically from 57F; down to 45F at 3 AM, down to 40F at 4 AM, and finally down to the low so far today of 36F at 4 AM for a total drop of 20 degrees! Accompanying the front were a few rain showers that dropped 0.05 inch of precipitation on the summit early this morning. Blue Hill's Director, Charles Orloff, reported observing sleet out on the Cape. Visibility has been great, reaching 85 miles today with the fresh air mass. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altocumulus, broken altocumulus, broken cirrostratus, cumulus/cumulus fractus SSW-NW-ENE, lower altocumulus/altocumulus lenticularis NNE-SE-SW, virga ESE-S, light distant haze Temperature: 36F, Dew point: 24F, Wind: W at 23G31 kts, Wind: Peak wind 33 kts from the W at 6:27 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.96 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 75 miles, NW 85 miles, NE-SE lower, light distant haze 24-hour precip: 0.05 inch 6-hour precip: 0.05 inch 6-hour max. temp: 57F 6-hour min. temp: 36F BHO SA 1155 35 SCT 80 SCT E120 BKN 200 BKN 75 145/36/24/2823G31/996/ CU/CUFRA SSW-NW-ENE LWR AC/ACSL NNE-SE-SW VIRGA ESE-S LGT DSNT HZ NE-SE VSBY NW 85 NE-SE LWR PK WND 2833/27 WND 25V32/ 8/177 53034 MANUAL 70005 ASOS 70005 MANUAL 60005 ASOS 60005 10057 20036 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altocumulus (2 levels), broken cirrostratus, cumulus/cumulus fractus and few moderate cumulus WSW-NW-NE and distant E, altocumulus/altocumulus lenticularis E-SSW, partial halo, light distant haze Temperature: 38F, Dew Point: 23F; Wind: WNW at 10G15 kts, Wind: Direction variable WSW-NNW Sea-level pressure: 30.05 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 85 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 45 SCT 80 SCT 120 SCT E200 BKN 85 177/38/23/2910G15/005/ CU/CUFRA AND FEW MDT CU WSW-NW-NE AND DSNT E AC/ACSL E-SSW PARTIAL HALO LGT DSNT HZ WND 25V33/ 8/277 51032 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altocumulus, broken cirrostratus, cumulus and moderate cumulus WSW-NW-NE, few small cumulus/cumulus fractus E-ESE and SSE-SW, altocumulus E-SSW, cirrostratus ENE-SW, light distant haze Temperature: 43F, Dew Point: 22F; Wind: W at 9 kts, Wind: Direction variable WSW-WNW Sea-level pressure: 30.03 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 80 miles, light distant haze 6-hour max. temp: 43F BHO SA 1755 50 SCT 120 SCT E200 BKN 80 168/43/22/2809/003/ CU AND MDT CU WSW-NW-NE FEW SML CU/CUFRA E-ESE AND SSE-SW AC DSNT E-SSW CS ENE-SW LGT DSNT HZ WND 24V30/ 8/278 58009 10043 20036 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 8 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....66 NORMAL.....42 MIN.....48 NORMAL.....24 MEAN....57 NORMAL.....33 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+24 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+28 [+3.3 DEGREES] . HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY...............8 DEPARTURE.........-23 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............236 DEPARTURE.........-24 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3887 DEPARTURE........-943 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4769 DEPARTURE........-882 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............59 SSW AT 5:41 P.M. AERO..................61 SSW AT 5:41 P.M. ASOS..................60 SW AT 5:41 P.M. DAVIS.................58 SSW AT 5:40 P.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........42 SSW AT 9:55 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............43 SSW AT 4:13 P.M. DAVIS MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE AVERAGE...........42 SSW AT 4:13 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......28.8 SSW ASOS................27.1 DAVIS...............26.5 SSW [210 deg] * = last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.05 DEPARTURE..........-0.13 ASOS..............0.05 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.46 DEPARTURE..........+0.07 ASOS..............1.48 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.73 DEPARTURE..........-4.08 ASOS...............5.81 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE..........-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................4.0 DEPARTURE..........+0.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............24.2 DEPARTURE.........-25.0 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 3/1 34/22/28/-3/1.05/3.3/000/00 40 ENE AERO 44 MPH ENE RMY 42 3/2 30/21/26/-5/0.01/0.1/000/00 23 ESE AERO 25 MPH ESE RMY 26 3/3 44/30/37/+5/0.35/0.6/000/00 27 W AERO 29 MPH SW RMY 28 3/4 39/30/35/+3/0.00/0.0/.../.. 28 W AERO 28 MPH W RMY 28 3/5 35/22/29/-3/0.00/0.0/.../.. 33 W AERO 35 MPH W RMY 35 3/6 37/16/27/-5/0.00/0.0/.../.. 28 NW AERO 28 MPH NW RMY N/A 3/7 50/29/45/+12/0.00/0.0/.../.. 40 SSW AERO 43 MPH SSW RMY 43 3/8 66/48/57/+24/0.00/0.0/.../.. 59 SSW AERO 61 MPH SSW RMY N/A 3/9 our morning low temp 36F: the normal low is now 24F DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2012 3/8 - NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMP OF 66F; surpasses the previous record of 63F set in 1942 and 1995. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 9 HIGH 71 IN 2000 LOW 1 IN 2007 PRECIP 2.67 INS. IN 1998 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 2001 PEAK GUST 102e MPH S IN 1942 [RECORD FOR MONTH] RECORDS FOR MARCH 10 HIGH 69 IN 1977 LOW 2 IN 1984 PRECIP 2.00 INS. IN 1994 SNOWFALL 4.0 INS. IN 1997 PEAK GUST 80 MPH NW IN 1974 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser