BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2014      ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME LAST DAY OF THE YEAR SEES COLDEST TEMPERATURES FOR THE SEASON THUS FAR This morning's low of 14F marks the coldest reading so far this season, well below yesterday's mark of 19F. Yesterday's midnight to midnight low was 16F, reached at midnight last night. Tuesday's average temperature of 22F was the  first day below the norm since the 20th, and before that, the 12th. With a cold end to December, the month will likely still finish above average for temperature. Partly cloudy conditions have largely dominated today's skies with varying amount of sunshine. By the 1:00 PM EST observation virga was present in all directions, falling from scattered stratocumulus. A maximum reading of 28F was recorded thus far.  Happy New Year from everyone at Blue Hill Observatory!  Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumlus, scattered cirrus, few stratocumulus distant offshore ENE-SE Temperature: 15F; Dew Point: 6F; Wind: WSW at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.39 ins. Hg, about the same                       Visibility: 60 miles  6-hr max temp: 15F 6-hr min temp: 14F  24-hr precip.: 0.00 ins  BHO SA 1155 180 SCT 250 SCT 60 257/15/6/2409/039/  FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR ENE-SE/ 8/531 55003 10015 20014 10 A.M.  Weather: Broken altocumulus, few stratocumulus distant offshore NE-SE Temperature: 20F; Dew Point: 9F; Wind: W at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, increasing, then decreasing  but higher Visibility: 65 miles BHO SA 1455 E160 BKN 65 252/20/9/2608/027/  FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR NE-SE FEW CU DSNT W-NNW/ 8/530 50005 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered strocumulus, virga in all directions Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 12F; Wind: W at 13 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.18 ins. Hg, falling, then more slowly Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr max temp: 28F 6-hr min temp: 15F BHO SA 1755 50 SCT 70 221/25/12/2813/018/ VIRGA ALQDS/  8/500 56031 10028 20015 SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014  TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....27   NORMAL.....35 MIN.....16   NORMAL.....19 MEAN....22   NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..........................-5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+146 [+4.7 DEGREES/DAY]* *correction made 12/31/14  HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............43  DEPARTURE...........+5 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............864  DEPARTURE.........-141      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........2023  DEPARTURE.........-244 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......2230  DIFFERENCE........-207 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................23  WNW  AT  12:48 P.M.                           ASOS.......................24  W    AT  12:57 P.M.                          DAVIS......................22  WNW  AT  12:48 P.M. RMY 23 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................17  WNW  AT  12:33 P.M.       MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................18  W    AT   3:55 P.M.        MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................16  W    AT  11:59 P.M.        AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............10.3 WNW                     ASOS......................10.7                       DAVIS.....................8.7 WNW [287 degrees]   * last of several occurrences...                 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..........7.21  DEPARTURE.....+2.60                          ASOS..............7.44   TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........54.97  DEPARTURE.....+1.83                          ASOS.............55.63    SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................2.3  DEPARTURE.....-10.0  TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............11.0  DEPARTURE......-3.9   PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/RMY GUST RMY:  R.M. Young wind gust recording system  TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 12/1  63/37/50/+13/0.01/0.0/391/70             28 WNW RMY 31 12/2  37/30/34/-2/0.10/T/000/00                26 E   RMY 29 12/3  49/34/42/+6/0.31/0.0/000/00              40 W   RMY 43  12/4  41/27/34/-1/0.00/0.0/505/91              29 WNW RMY N/A  12/5  42/23/33/-2/0.12/0.0/382/69              21 E   RMY 22 12/6  43/36/40/+5/0.99/0.0/000/00              25 NNW RMY N/A 12/7  36/18/27/-7/0.15/0.0/193/35              31 N   RMY 34 12/8  25/16/21/-13/0.01/0.1/000/00             24 N   RMY N/A 12/9  48/25/37/+3/3.23/0.0/000/00              48 ENE RMY 52 12/10 47/35/41/+8/0.43/0.0/000/00              35 NNE RMY 37  12/11 35/29/32/-1/0.05/0.5/000/00              27 SW  RMY 27   12/12 36/26/31/-2/0.00/0.0/230/42              23 WNW RMY 25 12/13 40/27/34/+2/0.00/0.0/191/35              28 NW  RMY 28  12/14 43/28/36/+4/0.00/0.0/377/69              20 NW  RMY 20 12/15 41/28/35/+3/0.00/0.0/536/98              17 NW  RMY 17 12/16 42/33/38/+7/T/T/011/02                   17 E   RMY N/A 12/17 45/37/41/+10/0.43/0.0/000/00             27 W   RMY N/A  12/18 41/32/37/+6/0.02/T/213/39                35 WNW RMY 38    12/19 34/25/30/0/0.00/0.0/000/00               26 NW  RMY 29 12/20 32/24/28/-2/..../.../164/30              21 NNE RMY 23  12/21 31/29/30/+0/..../.../000/00              20 NNE RMY 22 12/22 42/29/36/+7/..../0.0/.../..              23 E   RMY N/A 12/23 44/39/42/+13/..../0.0/000/00             28 ENE RMY 30  12/24 61/40/51/+22/..../0.0/000/00             32 SSW RMY 41  12/25 61/41/51/+23/..../0.0/.../..             37 W   RMY 43 12/26 47/35/41/+13/0.00/0.0/.../..             24 WSW RMY 28 12/27 50/35/43/+15/0.00/0.0/.../..             21 SSW RMY N/A 12/28 49/35/42/+14/0.02/0.0/.../..             31 W   RMY 36 12/29 41/26/34/+7/0.00/0.0/.../..              23 WNW RMY 23 12/30 morning low temp: 19F since midnight; normal low is now 19F DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2014: -DAILY PRECIPITATION RECORD FOR DECEMBER 9 2014 Old record of 1.51 inches set in 1952, replaced with new record of 3.23 inches. -DAILY TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR DECEMBER 24 2014         Old record of 58F set in 1996,         replaced with new record of 61F. DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):      RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 30 HIGH 60 IN 1984 LOW -18 IN 1933 PRECIP 1.48 INS. IN 1891 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 1956 PEAK GUST 81 MPH WNW IN 1962 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 31 HIGH 62 IN 1965 LOW -12 IN 1917 PRECIP 0.96 INS. IN 1906 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 2008 PEAK GUST 78 MPH NW IN 1990 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald