BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME STEEP TEMPERATURE INVERSION DEVELOPED OVERNIGHT A VERY COLD START TO MARCH CONTINUES... ONLY TWO OUT OF TEN DAYS ENDING MARCH 6 HAD ABOVE FREEZING MAXIMA... SEVEN OUT OF LAST TEN DAYS HAD DOUBLE DIGIT BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES Temperatures dropped to the single numbers above zero, very, very cold for early March this morning in the area. However here at the summit of Blue Hill the low was a not so cold 16F. We have experienced an unusually cold start to the month of March with the first six days of the month averaging 9.7 degrees colder than normal. Yesterday, March 6, was yet another very cold day and averaged 15 degrees colder than normal. Eight out of the past ten days have had sub-freezing maximum temperatures beginning with February 25. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrostratus (layer extending SE-WSW), thin broken cirrostratus, few cirrus NW-NE Temperature: 21F; Dew Point: -2F; Wind: SSE at 5 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.40 ins. Hg, falling slightly Visibility: 30 miles, patchy thin fog below inversion, visibility to the distant WNW 60 miles above inversion, Mt. Washusett summit clearly visible 6-hr min temp: 16F 6-hr max temp: 21F 24-hr precip: none Snow depth: 7 inches BHO SA 1155 220 SCT 250 SCT 300 -BKN 30 295/21/-2/1405/040/ LWR DNS CS LYR XTDNG ESE-WSW PTCHS THN F BLO INVSN VSBY 60 ABV INVSN DSNT WNW THN K LYR ALG HRZN NNE-NE/ 8/008 4/007 58009 10021 20016 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrostratus, thin layer overhead, Temperature: 29F Dew Point: 19F; Wind: SE at 4 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.35 ins. Hg, falling, then more slowly Visibility: 25 miles, hazy all quadrants, thin smoke layer WSW-N BHO SA 1455 250 SCT 300 BKN 25 279/29/19/1404/035/ LWR DNS CS LYR XTDNG DSNT ESE-SW HAZY ALQDS WND LGT THN K LYR WSW-N/ 8/008 56016 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....26 NORMAL.....41 MIN......7 NORMAL.....23 MEAN....17 NORMAL.....32 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................-15 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................-57 [-9.7 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............48 DEPARTURE.........+15 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............257 DEPARTURE.........+57 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4848 DEPARTURE.........+81 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4297 DIFFERENCE.......+551 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................23 NNW AT 2:40 A.M. AERO.......................23 NNW AT 1:39 A.M. ASOS.......................23 N AT 2:20 A.M. DAVIS......................21 NNW AT 1:39 A.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................N/A MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................17 N AT 2:22 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................15 N AT 2:21 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............7.4 N ASOS......................8.1 DAVIS.....................6.6 N [010 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..........0.02 DEPARTURE.............-1.02 ASOS..............0.03 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........10.11 DEPARTURE.............+0.65 ASOS.............10.55 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........ 0.0 DEPARTURE..............-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.3 DEPARTURE..............-2.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............82.1 DEPARTURE.............+32.0 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 27/16/22/-10/0.02/0.3/.../.. 21 NE AERO 20 MPH N RMY 23 3/6 26/7/17/-15/0.00/0.0/.../.. 23 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY N/A 3/7 morning low temp: 16F; 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 7 HIGH 66 IN 1946 LOW -1 IN 1890 PRECIP 2.05 INS. IN 1967 SNOWFALL 11.5 INS. IN 2013 (was 11.1 in 1967) PEAK GUST 66 MPH NE IN 1962 RECORDS FOR MARCH 8 HIGH 66 IN 2012 LOW 2 IN 1986 PRECIP 2.20 INS. IN 2008 SNOWFALL 8.3 INS. IN 1941 PEAK GUST 69 MPH SSW IN 2008 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling