BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013, MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME PONKAPOAG POND HAS THAWED! HOUGHTONS PARTLY THAWED TEMPERATURE DROPS FROM 56F YESTERDAY TO 18F EARLY THIS MORNING PEAK WIND GUST REACHED ABOUT 50 MPH EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON Ponkapoag Pond thawed completely yesterday and still was showing all open water today despite the well below freezing temperatures. Houngtons Pond is still covered by 7/10 ice. A high temperature of 52F was reached early Sunday afternoon but readings dropped steadily during the late afernoon and through the night to a low 18F early morning. This was still 2 degrees above the normal low of 17F. Early yesterday afternoon our peak gusts reached 48 MPH SW on our 420C gust recorder and 52 MPH SW on the Aerovane. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, cumulus fractus, cumulus, stratocumulus along and offshore distant NE-S, altocumulus distant S-NW, cirrus radiatus east through southwest Temperature: 19F; Dew Point: 3F; Wind: W at 11 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.05 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 60 miles, light distant haze 6-hour min temp: 18F BHO SA 1155 CLR 60 179/19/3/2811/005/ CU/SC ALG/OFFSHR NE-S AC MSTLY DSNT S-W-NW CI RADIATUS XTDNG MSTLY DSNT E-SW/ LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS 8/841 51015 10033 20018 10 A.M. Weather: Few small cumulus/stratocumulus distant NE-ESE, few altocumulus lenticularis/cirrocumulus lenticularis distant SE-SSE, breaks in overcast clear sky beyond distant NNW-NE, few small breaks in overcast SE-S Temperature: 24F; Dew Point: 4F; Wind: W at 11 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.09 ins. Hg, rising than rising more slowly Visibility: 85 miles BHO SA 1455 E100 BKN 250 OVC 85 191/24/4/2811/009/ FEW SML CU/SC DSNT NE-ESE FEW ACSL/CCSL DSNT SE-SSE BINOVC CLR SKY BND DSNT NNW-NE FEW SML BINOVC SE-S/ 8/849 51012 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, broken altocumulus, overcast cirrostratus, overcast partly thin, few small cumulus/stratocumulus distant NE-ESE offshore, altocumulus lenticularis all quadrants except overhead Temperature: 26F; Dew Point: 6F; Wind: W at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable SW-WNW Sea-level pressure: 30.01 ins. Hg, falling then more rapdily Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze increasing 6-hour max temp: 26F 6-hour min temp: 18F BHO SA 1755 95 SCT E120 BKN 220 OVC 75 161/26/6/2607/001/ FEW SML CU/SC DSNT NE-ESE ALG/OFFSHR ACSL ALQDS XCPT OVHD CS LYR PTLY THN INCRSG LGT DSNT HZ WND 23V29/ 8/847 58030 10026 20018 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....52 NORMAL.....33 MIN.....26 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....39 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+14 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+159 [+7.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............26 DEPARTURE.........-14 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........630 DEPARTURE........-158 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........2658 DEPARTURE........-435 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2443 DIFFERENCE.......+215 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............48 SW AT 12:53 P.M. AERO....................52 SW AT 12:08 P.M. ASOS....................52 SW AT 12:54 P.M. DAVIS...................51 WSW AT 12:56 P.M. RMY 51 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............38 WSW AT 12:55 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............39 W AT 12:56 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............38 WSW AT 12:56 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........22.5 SSW ASOS..................21.2 DAVIS.................20.4 WSW [240 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M... 0.00 DEPARTURE..........-0.14 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.63 DEPARTURE..........-2.21 ASOS..............0.60 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.63 DEPARTURE..........-2.21 ASOS..............0.60 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.0 DEPARTURE............-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............3.6 DEPARTURE............-7.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............19.0 DEPARTURE............-8.2 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 2013 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 1/1 35/18/27/0/0.00/0.0/313/57 44 WNW AERO 44 MPH WNW RMY 45 1/2 29/11/20/-7/0.00/0.0/457/83 35 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 33 1/3 23/2/13/-13/0.00/0.0/529/96 24 WNW AERO 23 MPH WNW RMY 23 1/4 38/19/29/+3/0.00/0.0/320/58 35 W AERO 36 MPH W RMY 36 1/5 40/27/34/+8/0.00/0.0/536/97 36 WNW AERO 37 MPH WNW RMY 38 1/6 42/27/35/+9/T/0.1/471/85 29 SW AERO 29 MPH SW RMY 29 1/7 38/27/33/+7/0.00/0.0/538/97 29 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY N/A 1/8 45/27/36/+10/0.00/0.0/428/77 39 SW AERO 42 MPH SW RMY 41 1/9 42/31/37/+11/T/0.0/033/06 40 W AERO 39 MPH W RMY N/A 1/10 45/32/39/+14/0.00/0.0/548/98 47 WNW AERO 48 MPH WNW RMY 50 1/11 38/29/34/+9/0.15/0.0/050/09 23 SE AERO 21 MPH SE RMY 23 1/12 43/35/40/+15/0.02/0.0/000/00 21 SE AERO 18 MPH SE RMY 15 1/13 50/41/46/+21/0.01/0.0/000/00 30 SW AERO 30 MPH SW RMY N/A 1/14 59/40/50/+25/T/0.0/175/31 36 S AERO 37 MPH S RMY 39 1/15 40/33/37/+12/T/0.0/045/08 17 N AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY 17 1/16 33/29/31/+6/0.45/3.5/000/00 16 NNE AERO 14 MPH N RMY 15 1/17 39/28/34/+9/0.00/0.0/.../.. 36 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/18 28/16/22/-3/0.00/0.0/.../.. 39 NW AERO 39 MPH NW RMY 43 1/19 47/21/34/+9/0.00/0.0/.../.. 46 SSW AERO 45 MPH SSW RMY 48 1/20 52/26/39/+14/0.00/0.0/.../.. 48 SW AERO 52 MPH SW RMY 51 1/21 morning low temp: 18F; the normal low is now 17F DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2013 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 21 HIGH 65F IN 1906 LOW -4F IN 1888,1893 PRECIP 2.49 INS. IN 1979 SNOWFALL 7.6 INS. IN 2011 PEAK GUST 78e MPH SE IN 1979 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 22 HIGH 59F IN 1916 LOW -8F IN 1888,1976 PRECIP 1.24 INS. IN 1891,1987 SNOWFALL 10.0 INS. IN 2005 PEAK GUST 67 MPH W IN 1976 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling, Patrick Peters, Peter Volpe