BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME ANOTHER VERY SUNNY DAY AFTER 93% OF POSSIBLE SUNSHINE YESTERDAY TEMPERATURES RISE TO MID 60'S AFTER LOW OF 46F WAS +4 FROM NORMAL RADIATION FOR BELOW SUMMIT THIS MORNING WITH 30'S It appears we'll have a second consecutive day with over 90% of the possible sunshine and we need it to help bring a less than sunny month of October up a bit closer to normal sunshine. Temperatures fell into the 30's with considerable radiation fog forming overnight last night. The summit was relatively mild with a low in the mid 40's while nearby Norwood and Taunton airports recorded lows of 33 degrees. Even Boston's Logan airport was slightly cooler than Blue Hill at 44 degrees this morning. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, altocumulus distant NE-ESE, layer receding, cirrus distant N-NE, thin fog below summit, few dense patches, SE,SW and WNW dissipating, and patchs steam fog over ponds vicinity SE also dissipating Temperature: 51F; Dew Point: 45F; Wind: S at 5 kts. Sea-level pressure: 30.09 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 20 miles, thin fog, smoke layer along and above horizon SW-N 6-hour min. temp: 46F BHO SA 1155 CLR 20 188/51/45/1805/009/ AC DSNT NE-ESE RCDNG CI DSNT N-NE THN FG BLO SMT ALQDS FEW DNS PTCHS DSSPTG PTCHS STEAM OVR PONDS VC SE DSSPTG/ 8/031 53016 10051 20046 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, numerous small cumulus forming mostly distant ESE-SSW, cirrus and few dense cirrus NNW-E, smoke layer along and above horizon SW-NW-NE, dark smoke layer along/above horizon NNW-N Temperature: 60F; Dew Point: 45F; Wind: S at 5 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.10 ins. Hg, rising then falling Visibility: 30 miles, distant haze, smoke layer SW-NW-NE and dark smoke layer NNW-N BHO SA 1455 CLR 30 194/60/45/1705/010/ NMRS SML CU FRMG MSTLY DSNT ESE-SSW CI/FEW DNS CI DSNT NNW-E K LYR ALG/ABV HRZNS SW-NW-NE DRK K LYR NNW-N DSNT HZ/ 8/102 50006 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, small cumulus all quadrant, cirrs, dense cirrus distant SSW-W Temperature: 64F; Dew Point: 46F; Wind: SSE at 5 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.09 ins. Hg, falling slowly Visibility: 50 miles, distant haze 6-hour max. temp: 65F BHO SA 1755 CLR 50 189/64/46/1605/009/ SML CU ALQDS CI/DNS CI DSNT SSW-W DSNT HZ/ 8/102 57005 10065 20051 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....60 NORMAL.....60 MIN.....35 NORMAL.....42 MEAN....48 NORMAL.....51 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................-3 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+8 [+0.3 DEGREE/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............17 DEPARTURE........+3 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........180 DEPARTURE.......-12 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........279 DEPARTURE.......-55 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....184 DIFFERENCE......+95 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............22 NW AT 12:29 A.M. AERO..................36 NW AT 12:29 A.M. ASOS..................21 NW AT 12:30 A.M. DAVIS.................20 NW AT 12:27 A.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........15 NNW AT 2:08 A.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............15 NNW AT 2:10 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........15 NW AT 12:27 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........7.4 NW ASOS.................7.4 DAVIS................7.1 NW [310 deg] * last of several occurrences.. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE...........-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.98 DEPARTURE...........-1.54 ASOS..............0.93 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........29.60 DEPARTURE..........-12.00 ASOS.............29.48 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 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 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 10/1 66/47/57/0/T/429/61 36 W AERO 35 MPH WSW RMY 36 10/2 69/53/61/+4/0.12/098/14 18 W AERO 16 MPH W RNT 16 10/3 62/58/60/+4/0.02/000/00 20 NE AERO 18 MPH NE RMY 18 10/4 61/58/60/+4/0.08/000/00 17 NNE AERO 14 MPH NE RMY 14 10/5 75/57/66/+10/0.00/623/90 20 SW AERO 19 MPH SW RMY 21 10/6 77/48/63/+8/0.20/269/39 36 SSW AERO 37 MPH SSW RMY 36 TSTM 10/7 57/44/51/-4/0.15/185/27 21 WNW AERO 18 MPH WNW RMY 19 10/8 55/40/48/-6/0.00/328/48 17 WNW AERO 15 MPH WNW RMY N/A 10/9 56/49/53/-1/T/000/00 27 E AERO 25 MPH ENE RMY 25 10/10 60/47/54/0/0.22/000/00 36 WNW AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 31 10/11 58/41/50/-3/0.00/668/99 35 WNW AERO 33 MPH WNW RMY 34 10/12 51/34/43/-10/0.04/296/44 32 WNW AERO 30 MPH NW RMY 30 10/13 52/29/41/-12/0.00/582/87 22 SSW AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY N/A 10/14 66/43/55/+3/0.09/167/25 40 SW AERO 39 MPH SW RMY 39 10/15 73/58/66/+14/0.03/279/42 43 SSW AERO 43 MPH SSW RMY 43 10/16 61/40/51/0/0.03/522/79 38 WNW AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 38 10/17 60/35/48/-3/0.00/612/93 22 NW AERO 18 MPH NW RMY N/A 10/18 morning low temp: 46F; the normal low is now 42F DAILY RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 2012 10/13 - NEW DAILY RECORD LOW MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 29F; surpasses previous record of 30F set in 1934, 1936, 1988 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 18 HIGH 82F IN 1908 LOW 26F IN 1939 PRECIP 2.79 INCHES IN 1975 SNOWFALL 3.0 INCHES IN 2009 PEAK GUST 66 MPH S IN 1967 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 19 HIGH 81F IN 1945 LOW 21F IN 1922 PRECIP 3.64 INCHES IN 1932 SNOWFALL 1.0 INCHES IN 1972 PEAK GUST 66 MPH SSW IN 1967 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling