BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME HEAVY DOWNPOURS IN STRONG THUNDERSTORMS JUST WEST OF THE HILL THIS MORNING...FOGGY CONDITIONS AT SUNRISE TURN PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM BY AFTERNOON... The occasional showers of Friday afternoon turned to thunderstorms overnight with 1-2 inch rains occurring in parts of in Eastern Massachusetts. Just 0.30 inch was measured on the summit since Friday, with only 0.12 inch falling since midnight during a thunderstorm from about 2:45 to 4 AM EDT today. Dense fog early today burned off by mid-morning, and the partial sunshine has warmed the temperature into the low 70s from the morning low of 64. Despite the warmth, the fall foliage is becoming more colorful now as we head into the lower sunshine of late October. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Sky obscured in dense fog Temperature: 64F; Dew Point: 64F; Wind: SSE at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.69 ins. Hg, falling then steady Visibility: 1/8 mile 24-hour precip: 0.30 inch 6-hour precip: 0.07 inch 6-hour min. temp: 64F BHO SA 1155 W3 X 1/8F 055/64/64/1508/969/ 8//// 56014 6007/ 70030 10064 20064 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken stratocumulus, overcast stratocumulus, few moderate cumulus WSW-NW, breaks in overcast SW-NW, hazy Temperature: 66F; Dew Point: 65F; Wind: S at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.68 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 15 miles, 8 miles ESE-SE, 20 miles WNW-NW 3-hour precip: Trace BHO SA 1455 5 SCT E15 BKN 45 OVC 15 052/66/65/1910/968/ FEW MDT CU WSW-NW FEW BINOVC SW-NW VSBY ESE-SE 8 WNW-NW 20 HAZY/ 8/5// 55003 6000/ 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus (2 layers), broken dense cirrus, broken cirrus fibratus, few moderate cumulus all quadrants, few cumulus fractus all quadrants, dense cirrus NE-SE, hazy Temperature: 70F; Dew Point: 57F; Wind: SSW at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.63 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles, hazy 6-hour precip: Trace 6-hour max. temp: 72F BHO SA 1755 30 SCT 45 SCT E220 BKN 300 BKN 35 035/70/57/2109/963/ FEW MDT CU ALQDS CUFRA ALQDS DNS CI NE-SE HAZY/ 8/201 58017 6000/ 10072 20064 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....66 NORMAL.....59 MIN.....51 NORMAL.....42 MEAN....59 NORMAL.....50 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+9 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+22 [+1.0 DEGREE/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............6 DEPARTURE........-9 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........195 DEPARTURE.......-26 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........294 DEPARTURE.......-69 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....199 DIFFERENCE......+95 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............39 SSE AT 6:34 P.M. AERO..................38 SSE AT 6:34 P.M. ASOS..................36 SSE AT 6:35 P.M. DAVIS.................36 SSE AT 6:33 P.M. RMY 39 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........28 SSE AT 6:45 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............25 SSE AT 6:36 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........27 SSE AT 6:35 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......16.9 ESE ASOS................15.9 DAVIS...............15.4 SE [133 deg] * last of several occurrences.. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.30 DEPARTURE...........+0.15 ASOS..............0.30 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.29 DEPARTURE...........-1.54 ASOS..............1.23 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........29.91 DEPARTURE..........-12.00 ASOS.............29.78 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 66/46/56/+5/0.00/.../.. 25 ESE AERO 23 MPH ESE RMY 25 10/19 66/51/59/+9/..../.../.. 39 SSE AERO 38 MPH SSE RMY 39 10/20 morning low temp: 64F; the normal low is now 41F; TSTM in AM 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 20 HIGH 78F IN 1965, 1984 LOW 24F IN 1972 PRECIP 7.10 INCHES IN 1996 (RECORD FOR MONTH) SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1934, 1943 PEAK GUST 63 MPH W IN 1966 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 21 HIGH 79F IN 1979 LOW 24F IN 1974 PRECIP 2.39 INCHES IN 1944 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1895,1907,1940 PEAK GUST 69e MPH S IN 1976 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono