BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME MUCH COLDER WITH SNOW SHOWERS AND LIGHT WINDS TODAY... DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS TONIGHT... A snow shower occurred on Friday evening shortly after 10 PM bringing just a trace of snow to the summit. Additional snow showers developed along coastal New Hampshire and Massachusetts that moved southward during the morning. These dropped several inches of snow over some coastal areas such as Cape Ann and Cape Cod. Snow was observed on the summit from just before 8 AM to shortly after 10 AM this morning, with the heaviest snow showers occurring from 9:30 to 9:45 AM. The snowfall amounted to only a trace of snow with a trace of melted precipitation. The sky has remained very cloudy through early afternoon, though the low dew point has helped the visibility to improve to over 70 miles this afternoon. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME returns early tomorrow. Remember to turn clocks ahead one hour tonight. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken stratocumulus, few lower stratocumulus, snow shower NNE-ENE moving SSW, snow virga N-NNE and ENE-ESE, visibility decreasing N-E Temperature: 29F, Dew point: 17F, Wind: WNW at 13G18 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.29 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 49 miles, SE-WNW 55 miles, N-E 15, visibility decreasing N-E 24-hour precipitation: Trace 24-hour snowfall: Trace 6-hour min. temp: 27F BHO SA 1155 45 SCT E55 BKN 65 BKN 40 256/29/17/3013G18/029/ FEW LWR SC SW NNE-ENE MVNG SSW SNW VIRGA N-NNE AND ENE-ESE VSBY SE-WNW 55 N-E 15 VSBY DCRSNG N-E/ 8/5// 53027 10030 20027 10 A.M. Weather: Snow flurries, scattered stratocumulus, broken stratocumulus, precipitation very light, snow shower ESE-S moving south Temperature: 30F, Dew Point: 25F; Wind: N at 10G18 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.40 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles, visibility WNW-NW 50 miles, S 15 miles 3-hour precipitation: Trace 3-hour snowfall: Trace BHO SA 1455 25 SCT E40 BKN 35SW- 293/30/25/3510G18/040/ PCPN VRY LGT SW ESE-S MVNG S VSBY WNW-NW 50 S 15/ 8/5// 51037 6000/ 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, few lower stratocumulus distant ESE-SE Temperature: 35F, Dew Point: 20F; Wind: NNE at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable N-ENE Sea-level pressure: 30.44 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 75 miles 6-hour precipitation: Trace 6-hour snowfall: Trace 6-hour max. temp: 37F BHO SA 1755 E40 BKN 75 308/35/20/0307/044/ FEW LWR SC DSNT ESE-SE WND 36V06/ 8/5// 51015 6000/ 10037 20029 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 9 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....57 NORMAL.....42 MIN.....31 NORMAL.....24 MEAN....44 NORMAL.....33 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+11 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+39 [+4.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............21 DEPARTURE.........-10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............257 DEPARTURE.........-34 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3908 DEPARTURE........-953 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4803 DEPARTURE........-895 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............62 SSW AT 12:28 A.M. AERO..................63 SSW AT 12:28 A.M. ASOS..................63 SSW AT 12:30 A.M. DAVIS.................60 SW AT 12:29 A.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........45 SSW AT 12:37 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............43 SSW AT 12:31 A.M. DAVIS MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE AVERAGE...........42 SSW AT 12:30 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......16.3 W ASOS................15.6 DAVIS...............14.0 W [271 deg] * Last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...Trace DEPARTURE..........-0.18 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.46 DEPARTURE..........-0.11 ASOS..............1.48 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.73 DEPARTURE..........-4.26 ASOS...............5.81 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........Trace DEPARTURE..........-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................4.0 DEPARTURE..........-0.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............24.2 DEPARTURE.........-25.4 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 57/31/44/+11/0.05/T/.../.. 62 SSW AERO 63 MPH SSW RMY N/A 3/10 morning low temp 27F: the normal low is now 25F 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 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 RECORDS FOR MARCH 11 HIGH 65 IN 1967 LOW 4 IN 1939, 1960 PRECIP 2.11 INS. IN 1901 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 1934 PEAK GUST 66e MPH W IN 1980 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono