BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME RISING TEMPERATURES UNDER A STRENGTHENING SUN BEGIN THE THAW TODAY FOLLOWING YESTERDAY'S MIXED PRECIPITATION. Yesterday afternoon we observed another familiar sight- more frozen precipitation! Beginning just after the 1:00 PM observation light snow began to fall, followed by a transition to ice pellets and finally freezing rain. In total we received 0.1 inches of frozen precipitation with a total liquid equivalent including the freezing rain of 0.25 inches. The glaze ice that formed on most surfaces also measured 0.25 inches. Today, Thursday, began with nearly cloudless skies and temperatures hovering just under the freezing mark at 31.5F. With a stronger mid-February sun and a shift in the winds to WSW temperatures were able to climb to 38.2F. At 1:00 PM the climb continued to 46.1F. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cirrus WSW Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 31F; Wind: W at 13 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.13 ins. Hg, increasing, then more slowly Visibility: 20 miles, thin fog all quadrants 6-hr min temp: 32F 6-hr max temp: 30F 24-hr precip: 0.25 in. 24-hr snowfall: 0.1 ins. 24-hr glaze ice accumulation: 0.25 ins. Snow depth: 19 inches BHO SA 1155 CLR 20 203/32/31/2613/013/ FEW CI WSW THN F ALQDS TOTAL GLZ PST 24 HRS 0.25 IN NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.1/ 8/001 4/019 51046 ASOS 70025 MANUAL 70025 10032 20030 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cirrus in all quadrants, few cirrocumulus NW Temperature: 38F Dew Point: 29F; Wind: W at 7 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.19 ins. Hg, increasing, then steady Visibility: 30 miles, thin smoke along the horizon SW-NE, 40 miles ENE-SSW BHO SA 1455 CLR 30 225/38/29/27/2707/019/ FEW CI DSNT ALQDS FEW CC NW K LYR ALG HRZN SW-NE VSBY ENE-SSW 50 MI/ 8/001 51022 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few altostratus lenticularis distant W-NE, few cirrostratus in all quadrants, and increasing Temperature: 46F; Dew Point: 21F; Wind: WSW at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.18 Hg, steady, then falling Visibility: 40 miles 6-hr max. temp: 47F 6-hr min. temp: 32F BHO SA 1755 CLR 40 220/46/21/2409/018/ FEW ACSL DSNT W-NE FEW CS DSNT ALQDS K LYR ALG NNE-ENE/ 8/045 58005 10047 20032 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2014 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....35 NORMAL.....37 MIN.....20 NORMAL.....20 MEAN....28 NORMAL.....29 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................-1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................-37 [-2.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............37 DEPARTURE..........+1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............756 DEPARTURE..........35 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4273 DEPARTURE.........+22 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......3838 DIFFERENCE.......+435 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................21 W AT 1:01 A.M. * AERO.......................20 ESE AT 11:02 A.M. ASOS.......................24 NW AT 7:57 P.M. DAVIS......................21 SSE AT 11:03 A.M. RMY 26 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................16 W AT 12:30 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................17 ENE AT 3:41 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................16 SE AT 11:05 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............ 10.0 W ASOS......................10.4 DAVIS.....................7.6 W [280 deg.] * last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.25 DEPARTURE.............+0.10 ASOS..............0.25 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.04 DEPARTURE.............+2.38 ASOS..............5.19 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........9.66 DEPARTURE.............+2.65 ASOS..............10.10 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.1 DEPARTURE..............-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............32.0 DEPARTURE.............+22.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............80.8 DEPARTURE.............+38.3 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 2014 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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 2/1 45/30/38/+12/0.00/0.0/402/67 24 S AERO 23 MPH S RMY 25 2/2 53/33/43/+17/0.00/0.0/181/30 22 S AERO 21 MPH WNW RMY 21 2/3 36/22/29/+3/0.32/2.8/000/00 22 NNE AERO 18 MPH NNE RMY 21 2/4 33/18/26/0/0.00/0.0/377/62 20 NW AERO 16 MPH NW RMY 17 2/5 31/21/26/0/1.32/10.7/000/00 32 ENE AERO 30 MPH ENE RMY 30 2/6 26/15/21/-5/0.02/0.4/398/65 22 WNW AERO 21 MPH WNW RMY 22 2/7 29/13/21/-6/0.00/0.0/615/100 25 W AERO 23 MPH W RMY 27 2/8 28/12/20/-7/0.00/0.0/612/99 24 W AERO 23 MPH W RMY 23 2/9 28/19/24/-3/0.05/1.0/112/18 21 N AERO 17 MPH N RMY 19 2/10 27/14/21/-6/0.00/0.0/617/99 28 NW AERO 28 MPH NW RMY 30 2/11 24/8/16/-11/0.00/0.0/625/100 22 WNW AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY 25 2/12 25/2/14/-13/0.00/0.0/.../.. 25 NNW AERO 23 MPH NW RMY 21 2/13 33/19/26/-2/..../.../000/00 46 NE AERO 51 MPH NE RMY 51 2/14 34/27/31/+3/..../.../.../.. 48 W AERO 51 MPH WNW RMY 49 2/15 34/27/31/+3/..../.../.../.. 35 NW AERO 35 MPH NW RMY 48 2/16 30/18/24/-4/..../.../.../.. 45 NW AERO 46 MPH NW RMY N/A 2/17 27/9/18/-10/0.00/0.0/.../.. 38 NW AERO 38 MPH NW RMY 41 2/18 32/12/22/-7/0.32/4.0/.../.. 27 ESE AERO 25 MPH WNW RMY 28 2/19 35/20/28/-1/0.25/0.1/.../.. 21 W AERO 20 MPH ESE RMY 26 2/20 morning low temp: 30F; the normal low is now 20F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2014 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 20 HIGH 66F IN 1930 LOW -4F IN 1966 PRECIP 1.90 INCHES IN 1934 SNOWFALL 15.0 INCHES IN 1921,1934 PEAK GUST 78 MPH NW IN 1972 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 21 HIGH 62F IN 1930 LOW -6F IN 1950 PRECIP 2.42 INCHES IN 1898 SNOWFALL 9.0 INCHES IN 1929 PEAK GUST 72 MPH WNW IN 1967 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald