BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME WARM, CLOUDY, HUMID, AND CALM Conditions began the day with dense fog on the summit reducing visibility to 1/8 of a mile. The fog slowly dissipated, and the cloud base slowly rose around mid morning, providing for gradually improving visibility throughout the day. A few brief bouts of sunshine have occurred this afternoon. Temperatures are running several degrees above normal today, with a low of 57F this morning and an afternoon high thus far of 73F. Also running quite high is the dew point temperature, reaching the mid 60s this afternoon. It is certainly quite humid today. Keeping with the trend over the past several days, winds continue to be quite light. The peak wind gust so far today is only 16 mph, and the peak gust since last Friday is only 23 mph! A few light rain showers occurred early this morning, and a few sprinkles were observed this afternoon. The precipitation today has only amounted to a trace. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Sky obscured by dense fog, stratus drifting over summit, light drizzle continued from previous hour very light and intermittent and ended at unknown time Temperature: 57F, Dew Point: 57F; Wind: SSE at 4 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.28 inches Hg, steady then rising slowly Visibility: 1/8 mile, dense fog, visibility increasing 6-hour precip: Trace 24-hour precip: Trace 6-hour min. temp: 57F BHO SA 1155 W3 X 1/8F 255/57/57/1504/028/ STRA DRFTNG OVR SMT VSBY INCRSNG L- CTD VRY LGT AND INTMT EUKN/ 8//// 53003 MANUAL 6000/ MANUAL 7000/ 10058 20057 10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus (2 levels), few small cumulus forming NE-SE, few stratocumulus lenticularis NNE-E, sun occasionally dimly visible, hazy Temperature: 65F, Dew Point: 61F; Wind: ESE at 4 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.25 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 20 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 E10 BKN 20 BKN 20 243/65/61/1204/025/ FEW SML CU FRMG NE-SE FEW SCSL NNE-E SUN OCNLY DIMLY VSBL HAZY/ 8/800 56012 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, overcast stratocumulus, few small breaks in overcast/bright spots all quadrants, thin smoke layer distant NNW-ENE, fog bank over ocean distant NNE-NE, hazy, rain shower distant S-SSW moving NNE Temperature: 69F, Dew Point: 64F; Wind: S at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable SSE-SSW Sea-level pressure: 30.23 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 30 miles, hazy 6-hour max. temp: 71F BHO SA 1755 E15 BKN 25 OVC 30 236/69/64/1807/023/ FEW SML BINOVC/BRGT SPTS ALQDS THN K LYR DSNT NNW-ENE FG BNK OVR OCEAN DSNT NNE-NE HAZY SHRA DSNT S-SSW MOVG NNE WND 15V21/ 8/500 58007 10071 20057 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MAY 24 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....75 NORMAL.....69 MIN.....59 NORMAL.....50 MEAN....67 NORMAL.....59 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................+8 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.......................+50 [+1.9 DEGREE/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY...............0 DEPARTURE..........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............174 DEPARTURE.........-58 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4888 DEPARTURE.......-1370 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......6153 DIFFERENCE......-1265 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............20 SSE AT 9:08 P.M. * AERO..................21 SE AT 9:15 P.M. ASOS..................21 ESE AT 3:19 P.M. DAVIS.................20 ESE AT 3:18 P.M. RMY 21 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........13 SE AT 9:43 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............15 SSE AT 9:09 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........15 SSE AT 9:09 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........8.6 SE ASOS.................8.4 DAVIS................8.0 SSE [157 deg.] * last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...Trace DEPARTURE..........-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.51 DEPARTURE..........+0.46 ASOS..............3.40 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........13.12 DEPARTURE..........-8.48 ASOS.............13.13 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE...........0.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0 DEPARTURE..........-0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............24.2 DEPARTURE.........-35.9 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MAY 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 5/1 47/42/45/-8/0.65/0.0/000/00 33 SE AERO 36 MPH SE RMY 37 5/2 50/43/47/-6/0.05/0.0/000/00 16 ENE AERO 16 MPH ENE RMY 17 5/3 51/44/48/-5/0.08/0.0/000/00 14 SSE AERO 16 MPH SSE RMY N/A 5/4 56/47/52/-2/0.01/0.0/000/00 21 SSW AERO 25 MPH SSW RMY 23 5/5 57/46/52/-2/0.04/0.0/034/04 14 NE AERO 15 MPH NE RMY 15 5/6 58/45/52/-2/0.00/0.0/532/62 21 ENE AERO 21 MPH ENE RMY 21 5/7 67/48/58/+3/0.00/0.0/740/86 23 S AERO 25 MPH S RMY 25 5/8 57/48/53/-2/0.18/0.0/000/00 40 S AERO 46 MPH S RMY 46 5/9 61/54/58/+3/0.36/0.0/000/00 25 S AERO 28 MPH S RMY N/A 5/10 65/46/56/+1/0.98/0.0/234/27 33 W AERO 36 MPH W RMY 37 5/11 62/42/52/-4/T/0.0/539/62 30 WNW AERO 33 MPH WNW RMY 34 5/12 77/46/62/+6/0.00/0.0/862/99 30 W AERO 30 MPH W RMY 29 5/13 82/57/70/+14/0.00/0.0/314/36 27 S AERO 29 MPH S RMY 29 5/14 71/52/62/+5/0.05/0.0/096/11 23 S AERO 24 MPH S RMY 23 5/15 72/57/65/+8/0.43/0.0/123/14 32 S AERO 35 MPH S RMY 33 5/16 71/58/65/+8/0.12/0.0/141/16 23 S AERO 24 MPH S RMY N/A 5/17 69/50/60/+3/0.00/0.0/784/89 31 WNW AERO 32 MPH WNW RMY 26 5/18 69/49/59/+1/0.00/0.0/857/97 17 ESE AERO 17 MPH ESE RMY 17 5/19 74/51/63/+5/0.00/0.0/876/99 15 WNW AERO 15 MPH WNW RMY 16 5/20 79/56/68/+10/0.00/0.0/727/82 17 SE AERO 17 MPH SE RMY 17 5/21 64/52/58/-1/0.02/0.0/000/00 17 NE AERO 16 MPH NNE RMY 18 5/22 61/56/59/0/0.54/0.0/000/00 23 NE AERO 23 MPH NE RMY 23 5/23 75/57/66/+7/0.00/0.0/.../.. 15 S AERO 16 MPH S RMY 15 5/24 75/59/67/+8/0.00/0.0/.../.. 20 SSE AERO 21 MPH SE RMY 21 5/25 our morning low temp: 57F; the normal low is now 51F DAILY RECORDS FOR MAY 2012 5/16 - TIED DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMP OF 56F; ties the record of 56F in 1951 and 1961. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MAY 25 HIGH 91F IN 2007 LOW 37F IN 1967 PRECIP 3.73 INS IN 1967 PEAK GUST 83 MPH NE IN 1967 (RECORD FOR MAY) RECORDS FOR MAY 26 HIGH 94F IN 2010 (RECORD FOR MAY) PRECIP 1.73 INS IN 2003 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1967 (Fell as ice pellets in nor'easter) PEAK GUST 62 MPH NE IN 1967 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser