BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME NEW RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE 72F SUNDAY BUT TODAY, ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER RECORD, 77F; OLD RECORD 70F IN 2010 During a day which was expected to be cooler and offer a break in the developing record March heat spell the the temperature has surged well above the day's record of 70F set two years ago in 2010. We reached today's record of 70 degrees at noon and were in the mid-70's less than an hour later. At 2:05 P.M. our maximum reached 76.7F and that may be today's final record high. The back-door front was slow to edge down the coast from Maine today but pushed past Portland between noon and 1 P.M. with the temperature dropping from the low 70's to 61F by 1 P.M. At the same time readings were surging well into the 70's in this area and other part of New England. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrus, scattered cirrus, thin undercast all quadrants, estimated top 6 hundred feet over city N and on hill 8 miles SW, inversion present, dew on surfaces Temperature: 51F, Dew point: 47F, Wind: WSW at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.16 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 6 miles, thin fog, 12 miles above inversion southwest and to the north 6-hour min. temp: 47F BHO SA 1155 220 SCT 250 SCT 6F 214/51/47/2511/016/ DNS CI NE-E AND S-SW THN UNDRCST ALL QUADS ESTMTD TOP 6 HND OVR CTY N AND SW HILL SMT 8 SW ABV INVSN VSBY N AND SW 12 ABV INSN FG DEW SFCS WET/ 8/002 53006 10051 20047 10 A.M. Weather: Thin scatteerd cirrus, two levels Temperature: 68F, Dew Point: 49F; Wind: W at 4 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.19 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 20 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 250 –SCT 300 –SCT 20 224/68/49/2804/019/ FEW DSNT LWR CI HAZY WND LGT/ 8/001 51010 1 P.M. Weather: Thin scattered cirrus, thin overcast cirrus, few small cumulus forming vicinity station SW, and distant WSW-WNW, breaks in overcast Temperature: 76F, Dew Point: 48F; Wind: N at 2 kts, estimated Wind: Direction light and variable Sea-level pressure: 30.18 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 25 miles, hazy 6-hour max. temp: 76F BHO SA 1755 250 –SCT 300 –OVC 25 219/76/48/E0102/018/ FEW SML CU FRMG VCTY STN SW AND DSNT WSW-WNW FEW DNS CI E-ESE HAZY WND L/V/ 8/101 58005 10076 20051 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 18 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....72 NORMAL.....45 MIN.....38 NORMAL.....27 MEAN....55 NORMAL.....36 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+19 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+135 [+7.3 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............10 DEPARTURE.........-18 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............434 DEPARTURE........-122 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4085 DEPARTURE.......-1041 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5008 DEPARTURE........-923 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............27 SW AT 7:01 A.M. AERO..................27 SW AT 7:01 A.M. ASOS..................26 SSW AT 7:20 A.M. DAVIS.................26 SSW AT 7:00 A.M. RMY 27 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........22 SW AT 6:55 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............21 SW AT 6:59 A.M. DAVIS MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE AVERAGE...........21 SSW AT 6:59 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......13.9 SW ASOS................13.7 DAVIS...............13.2 SW [220 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE..........-0.19 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.59 DEPARTURE..........-1.55 ASOS..............1.60 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.86 DEPARTURE..........-5.70 ASOS...............5.93 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..........-3.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............24.2 DEPARTURE.........-29.0 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/+3/0.00/0.0/082/12 28 W AERO 28 MPH W RMY 28 3/5 35/22/29/-3/0.00/0.0/651/95 33 W AERO 35 MPH W RMY 35 3/6 37/16/27/-5/0.00/0.0/674/98 28 NW AERO 28 MPH NW RMY N/A 3/7 50/29/45/+12/0.00/0.0/608/88 40 SSW AERO 43 MPH SSW RMY 43 3/8 66/48/57/+24/0.00/0.0/499/72 59 SSW AERO 61 MPH SSW RMY N/A 3/9 57/31/44/+11/0.05/T/279/40 62 SSW AERO 63 MPH SSW RMY N/A 3/10 37/27/32/-1/T/T/168/24 32 WNW AERO 33 MPH WNW RMY N/A 3/11 56/27/42/+8/0.00/0.0/681/97 35 SW AERO 37 MPH SW RMY 36 3/12 72/40/56/+22/0.00/0.0/620/88 23 SW AERO 25 MPH SW RMY N/A 3/13 68/46/57/+23/0.08/0.0/347/49 30 SSW AERO 31 MPH SSW RMY 31 3/14 51/36/44/+9/T/0.0/007/01 23 NE AERO 23 MPH ENE RMY 22 3/15 42/33/38/+3/T/0.0/.../.. 16 ENE AERO 15 MPH E RMY 15 3/16 43/32/38/+3/0.05/0.0/.../.. 16 NNW AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY 17 3/17 51/40/46/+10/0.00/0.0/.../.. 21 SSW AERO N/A RMY 24 3/18 72/38/55/+19/0.00/0.0/.../.. 27 SW AERO 27 MPH SW RMY 27 3/19 our morning low temp: 47F; the normal low is now 27F 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. 3/12 - NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMP OF 72F; surpasses the previous record of 67F set in 1977. 3/12 - NEW EARLY SEASON RECORD (NESR) HIGH TEMPERATURE of 72F; surpasses the previous record of 71F set on 3/9/2000. 3/18 – NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMP OF 72F; surpasses the previous record of 69F set in 2011. 3/19 - NEW RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMP OF 77F, prelim. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 19 HIGH 70 IN 2010 (surpassed in 2012....) LOW -2 IN 1967 PRECIP 1.69 INS. IN 1956 SNOWFALL 17.6 INS. IN 1956 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PEAK GUST 75e MPH WNW IN 1941 RECORDS FOR MARCH 20 HIGH 79 IN 1945 LOW 4 IN 1885 PRECIP 1.39 INS. IN 1957 SNOWFALL 11.4 INS. IN 1957 PEAK GUST 63 MPH SE IN 1975 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling, Patrick Peters