BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME ANOTHER CALM FALL DAY; WARM STREAK EXTENDS TO 9 DAYS The day started much like yesterday, except a few degrees warmer today. This morning, patchy, thin ground fog was observed throughout the area beneath a relatively prominent temperature inversion. The inversion was also evidenced by local low temperatures: Blue Hill 49F, Norwood 38F, Boston 47F, Taunton 36F. The sky began the day clear. A thin layer of stratocumulus overspread the area around mid morning, eventually dissipating early this afternoon. Afternoon sky conditions have been mostly clear. Haze has increased throughout the day, slowly decreasing visibility. Temperatures are close to 10 degrees above the 30-year normal today, extending our streak of consecutive days of above normal temperatures to 9 days. The month is now slightly more than 2 degrees above normal. Winds have been quite calm once again, averaging less than 10 mph so far today. This after two days of winds averaging below 5 mph. The month remains dry with only 34% of our normal rainfall to date. The rainfall deficit for the year is now just shy of 13 inches. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant SSW-SW and distant W-N, thin smoke layer along horizon NNE, thin smoke layer aloft distant all quadrants, distant haze, steam fog over pond SE, thin ground fog below summit all quadrants, inversion top estimated at 200 feet Temperature: 52F; Dew Point: 49F; Wind: S at 7 kts. Sea-level pressure: 30.24 ins. Hg, rising then falling Visibility: 50 miles, NE-S 60 miles, SW-N 40 miles, distant haze 6-hour min. temp: 49F BHO SA 1155 CLR 50 242/52/49/1807/024/ FEW SC DSNT SSW-SW AND DSNT W-N THN K LYR ALG HRZN NNE THN K LYR ALF DSNT ALQDS DSNT HZ STEAM FG OVR PONDS SE THN GF BLO SMT ALQDS INVSN TOP ESTMTD 2 HND VSBY NE-S 60 SW-N 40/ 8/500 55003 10052 20049 10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, sun dimly visible, mostly clear sky distant NNE-SE-SSW, thin smoke layer distant NNW-NE, distant haze Temperature: 58F; Dew Point: 51F; Wind: SSW at 4 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.26 ins. Hg, rising thn falling Visibility: 45 miles, NE-SSW 50 miles, SW-NNE 35 miles, distant haze BHO SA 1455 E20 BKN 45 246/58/51/2004/026/ SUN DMLY VSBL MSTLY CLR SKY DSNT NNE-SE-SSW THN K LYR DSNT NNW-NE DSNT HZ VSBY NE-SSW 50 SW-NNE 35 WND LGT/ 8/500 50006 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus and stratocumulus, clear sky in the vicinity of the station, stratocumulus distant SSE-SW, small cumulus ENE-S-WNW, cumulus and stratocumulus dissipating, thin smoke layer aloft distant all quadrants, hazy Temperature: 64F; Dew Point: 52F; Wind: SSW at 8 kts, Wind: Direction variable S-SW Sea-level pressure: 30.20 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 45 miles, hazy 6-hour max. temp: 66F BHO SA 1755 20 SCT 45 226/64/52/2108/020/ CLR SKY VCNTY STN SC DSNT SSE-SW SML CU ENE-S-WNW CU/SC DSSPTNG THN K LYR ALF DSNT ALQDS HAZY WND 17V23/ 8/500 56020 10066 20052 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....62 NORMAL.....57 MIN.....46 NORMAL.....40 MEAN....54 NORMAL.....49 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+58 [+2.1 DEGREE/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............11 DEPARTURE........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........253 DEPARTURE.......-63 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........352 DEPARTURE......-106 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....270 DIFFERENCE......+82 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............17 S AT 8:17 P.M. * AERO..................16 SSW AT 10:39 P.M. * ASOS..................17 S AT 8:18 P.M. DAVIS.................16 S AT 8:17 P.M. RMY 17 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........12 SW AT 11:40 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............14 S AT 8:17 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........13 S AT 8:17 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........4.8 ESE ASOS.................4.8 DAVIS................4.6 SSE [152 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..........1.29 DEPARTURE...........-2.46 ASOS..............1.23 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........29.91 DEPARTURE..........-12.92 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/+5/0.00/636/97 25 ESE AERO 23 MPH ESE RMY 25 10/19 66/51/59/+9/0.20/007/01 39 SSE AERO 38 MPH SSE RMY 39 10/20 73/53/63/+13/0.11/377/58 33 SSW AERO 32 MPH SSW RMY 34 TSTM 10/21 63/45/54/+4/0.00/564/87 36 WNW AERO 32 MPH WNW RMY 34 10/22 65/46/56/+7/0.00/632/98 37 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 36 10/23 64/46/55/+6/0.00/398/62 27 NW AERO 24 MPH NW RMY 26 10/24 53/46/50/+1/T/000/00 21 NNE AERO 20 MPH NNE RMY N/A 10/25 62/46/54/+5/0.00/.../.. 17 S AERO 16 MPH SW RMY 17 10/26 our morning low temp: 49F; the normal low is now 39F 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 26 HIGH 80F IN 1963 LOW 24F IN 1933 PRECIP 1.72 INCHES IN 1894 SNOW 3.0 INCHES IN 1962 WIND 59 MPH SSE IN 1967 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 27 HIGH 83F IN 1963 LOW 21F IN 1936 PRE 1.79 INCHES IN 1886 SNOW 2.5 INCHES IN 2011 WIND 54 MPH WNW IN 1968 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser