BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME UNSEASONABLE COLD CONTINUES WITH OVERCAST SKIES GRADUALLY LOWERING AND THICKENING ALONG NE WINDS WITH AFTERNOON SNOW Overnight clouds were on the increase helping the mercury stay between 24 to 22 degrees from midnight to sunrise. A layer of stratocumulus that were few and distant offshore this morning have gradually backed in from the ocean along NE winds, lowering the ceiling to roughly 1,000 feet from the summit of Great Blue Hill. Snow showers and virga have been observed throughout the day with snow finally beginning at Blue Hill at approximately 12:40 PM. Snow flurries turned into more continuous and substantial light snow following the 1:00 PM observation at which time snow had reduced the prevailing visibility to 7 miles in most directions. Only a trace of snow had been recorded by 1:00 PM. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Few stratocumulus distant offshore NNE-ESE, overcast altostratus undulatus, virga distant ESE Temperature: 22F; Dew Point: 13F; Wind: NE at 6 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.28 ins. Hg, increasing, then more quickly Visibility: 30 miles, distant haze 6-hr min temp: 22F 6-hr max temp: 23F Snow depth: 7 inches BHO SA 1155 E70 OVC 30 255/22/13/0506/028/ FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR NNE-ESE VIRGA DSNT ESE LGT HZ ALQDS/ 8/52/ 4/007 53014 10023 20022 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus advancing from NE last hour, broken altocumulus undulatus, overcast altostratus, snow showers distant E-ESE Temperature: 26F Dew Point: 17F; Wind: N at 6 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.30 ins. Hg, increasing, then decreasing Visibility: 25 miles, 35 miles SE-WSW, distant haze BHO SA 1455 10 SCT E50 BKN 140 OVC 25 260/26/17/0106/030/ SNW SHWRS DSNT E-ESE VSBY SE-WSW 35 MI LGT HZ ALQDS/ 8/57/ 50005 1 P.M. Weather: Light snow, broken stratocumulus, overcast stratus/nimbostratus, snow very light Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 19F; Wind: ENE at 7 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.28 Hg, falling then more quickly Visibility: 7 miles, reduced by light snow, 30 miles S-SSW 6-hr max. temp: 27F 6-hr min. temp: 21F 3-hr snow: TRACE BHO SA 1755 E10 BKN 42 OVC 7S- 253/25/19/0607/028/ S-B40 VSBY S-SSW 30 MI NEW SNW PST 3 HRS TRACE PRCP VRY LGT/ 8/52/ 58007 MANUAL 6000/ 10027 20021 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2014 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....29 NORMAL.....41 MIN......6 NORMAL.....23 MEAN....18 NORMAL.....32 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................-14 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................-32 [-8.2 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............47 DEPARTURE.........+14 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............166 DEPARTURE.........+32 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4757 DEPARTURE.........+55 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4239 DIFFERENCE.......+518 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................17 SW AT 1:37 P.M. * AERO.......................16 SW AT 1:37 P.M. * ASOS.......................17 N AT 4:57 A.M. DAVIS......................17 SSW AT 1:38 P.M. RMY 17 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................12 SW AT 1:40 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................14 SSW AT 1:40 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................13 SSW AT 1:40 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............7.5 WSW ASOS......................7.4 DAVIS.....................6.6 W [283 deg.] * last of several occurrences.... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE.............-0.17 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.00 DEPARTURE.............-0.69 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........10.09 DEPARTURE.............+0.98 ASOS.............10.52 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE..............-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0 DEPARTURE..............-2.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............81.8 DEPARTURE.............+32.7 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 3/1 34/12/23/-8/0.00/0.0/.../.. 28 SSW AERO 29 MPH SSW RMY 30 3/2 37/28/33/2/T/T/.../.. 22 SW AERO 22 MPH SW RMY 29 3/3 28/11/20/-12/0.00/0.0/.../.. 29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY N/A 3/4 29/6/18/-14/0.00/0.0/.../.. 17 SW AERO 16 MPH SW RMY 17 3/5 morning low temp: 22F; the normal low is now 23F 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 MARCH 5 HIGH 64 IN 1979 LOW -2 IN 1948 PRECIP 1.76 INS. IN 2001 SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1891 PEAK GUST 76e MPH WNW IN 1971 RECORDS FOR MARCH 6 HIGH 66 IN 1894 LOW 3 IN 1948, 2007 PRECIP 1.85 INS. IN 2001 SNOWFALL 15.5 INS. IN 2001 PEAK GUST 82 MPH S IN 1959 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald