BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME SPECTACULAR FIERY RED SUNRISE THIS MORNING; WARM AND HAZY AFTERNOON The day began with a spectacular sunrise. The sun appeared fiery red as viewed through a very hazy sky this morning. The red sunlight illuminated high clouds that have begun streaming into our area in association with Hurricane Sandy. Shortly after sunrise, fog and a low stratocumulus layer developed before dissipating around noon. A partial undercast was even observed NE-SE. As was the case yesterday, a temperature inversion was quite apparent this morning. The inversion was well-evidenced by local low temperatures at differing elevations: Blue Hill 52F, Boston 49F, Taunton 41F, Norwood 39F. Today is the 10th consecutive day of above normal temperatures. With a low of only 52F and a high so far of 64F, the average temperature today is running close to 10 degrees above normal. Winds continue to be quite light for yet another day. A peak wind gust greater than 20 mph has not been observed since early Wednesday morning. It has been about 1 month since our last daily rainfall of one half inch or greater, and about 2 months since our last daily rainfall of one inch or greater. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Fog, sky partially obscured by haze, broken thin cirrus, partial undercast N-ESE, thin stratus drifting below summit NE-SE, patches of ground fog below summit all quadrants, thin fog/haze all quadrants, inversion top estimated 600 feet over city to the N, hazy, parahelion (sun dog), dew all surfaces Temperature: 53F; Dew Point: 52F; Wind: N at 6 kts. Sea-level pressure: 30.08 ins. Hg, falling then rising Visibility: 6 miles, fog and haze, 12 miles above inversion 6-hour min. temp: 52F BHO SA 1155 –X 250 –BKN 6F 186/53/52/3606/008/ H2 PARTIAL UNDERCAST N-ESE THN STRA DRFTNG BLO SMT NE-SE PTCHS GF BLO SMT ALQDS THN FG/HZ ALQDS INVSN TOP ESTMTD 6 HND OVR CTY N HAZY PARAHELION DEW ALL SFCS VSBY 12 ABV INVSN/ 8/001 55000 10053 20052 10 A.M. Weather: Overcast stratocumulus, breaks in overcast in the vicinity of the station, sun dimly visible, thin fog/haze all quadrants Temperature: 57F; Dew Point: 53F; Wind: N at 4 kts, Wind: Light and variable Sea-level pressure: 30.08 ins. Hg, rising then falling Visibility: 10 miles, ESE-S 15 miles, thin fog/haze BHO SA 1455 E25 OVC 10 186/57/53/0104/008/ BINOVC VCTY STN SUN DMLY VSBL THN FG/HZ ALQDS VSBY ESE-S 15 WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/5// 50000 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus, broken cirrostratus, broken cirrus, few moderate cumulus SSE-SW, stratocumulus W-NNW, altocumulus W-NW, partial halo, parahelion (sun dog), smoke layer along horizon NNE-ENE, hazy Temperature: 63F; Dew Point: 53F; Wind: ENE at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable NNE-E Sea-level pressure: 30.03 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 25 miles, hazy 6-hour max. temp: 64F BHO SA 1755 25 SCT 30 SCT 60 SCT E200 BKN 250 BKN 169/63/53/0607/003/ FEW MDT CU SSE-SW SC W-NNW AC W-NW PARTIAL HALO PARAHELION K LYR ALG HRZN NNE-ENE HAZY WND 02V09/ 8/877 58017 10064 20053 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....67 NORMAL.....57 MIN.....49 NORMAL.....39 MEAN....58 NORMAL.....48 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL....................+10 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+68 [+2.4 DEGREE/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............7 DEPARTURE.......-10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........260 DEPARTURE.......-73 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........359 DEPARTURE......-116 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....292 DIFFERENCE......+67 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............17 S AT 7:45 P.M. AERO..................16 S AT 7:45 P.M. ASOS..................16 S AT 7:45 P.M. DAVIS.................15 SSW AT 10-11 P.M. RMY 16 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........12 SW AT 9:57 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............13 SW AT 10:00 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........12 SW AT 10-11 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........8.2 SSW ASOS.................8.4 DAVIS................8.0 SSW [209 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE...........-0.16 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.29 DEPARTURE...........-2.62 ASOS..............1.23 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........29.91 DEPARTURE..........-13.08 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 67/49/58/+10/0.00/.../.. 17 S AERO 16 MPH S RMY 16 10/27 our morning low temp: 52F; 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 27 HIGH 83F IN 1963 LOW 21F IN 1936 PRECIP 1.79 INCHES IN 1886 SNOWFALL 2.5 INCHES IN 2011 WIND 54 MPH WNW IN 1968 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 28 HIGH 81F IN 1919 LOW 23F IN 1914 PRECIP 2.46 INCHES IN 2006 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1934,1957,1979 PEAK GUST 71 MPH SSW IN 1995 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser