BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME DIM SUNSHINE THROUGH HIGH CLOUDS ALL DAY... COLDER TEMPERATURES AND DRIER AIR RETURNING TODAY... Gusty winds on Saturday provided a peak wind gust to 52 mph WNW at 3:22 PM EDT yesterday afternoon. The relatively warm weather on Saturday brought a high temperature of 55F yesterday, though this has being replaced by cooler air today with a high temperature so far of 43F. Drier air is also returning as indicated by the dew point, which has dropped from the upper 30s early afternoon yesterday to the upper single digits this afternoon. Visiblity has improved to about 75 miles today. The sun has generally been only dimly visible through an overcast of cirrostratus with some lower altostratus and other clouds. The snow cover on the summit remains a scant trace early today. The recent warmer temperatures and gust winds have helped to start thawing the local ponds. Houghton's shows 9/10 ice cover with an open area along the beach on the north shoreline, and small openings in Ponkapoag early today have increased during the day and reduced the ice cover to 8/10. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered altostratus, overcast cirrostratus and cirrus fibratus, few altocumulus lenticularis WNW-NNE, few lower altocumulus distant ESE-SE, sun dimly visible Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 23F; Wind: WSW at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.99 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 45 miles, hazy 6-hr max temp: 32F 6-hr min temp: 30F Snow depth: Trace BHO SA 1155 110 SCT 140 SCT E220 OVC 45 155/32/23/2508/999/ ACSL WNW-NNE FEW LWR AC DSNT ESE-SE SUN DMLY VSBL HAZY/ 8/075 51013 10032 20030 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered altostratus, overcast cirrostratus, few altocumulus, breaks in overcast distant WNW-NNE, sun dimly visible Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: W at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.98 ins. Hg, falling slightly Visibility: 75 miles BHO SA 1455 30 SCT 160 SCT E220 OVC 75 152/36/20/2810/998/ FEW AC BINOVC DSNT WNW-NNE SUN DMLY VSBL/ 8/177 56003 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered altostratus, overcast cirrostratus, few cumulus distant WNW-NNE, breaks in overcast distant W-NE, sum dimly visible Wind: Direction variable W-NNW Sea-level pressure: 29.92 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly Visibility: 75 miles 6-hr max temp: 43F 6-hr min temp: 32F BHO SA 1755 160 SCT E220 OVC 75 133/40/9/3013G22/992/ FEW CU DSNT WNW-NNE BINOVC DSNT W-NE SUN DMLY VSBL WND 27V33/ 8/107 56019 10043 20032 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2014 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....55 NORMAL.....46 MIN.....26 NORMAL.....28 MEAN....41 NORMAL.....37 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................+4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................-71 [-3.0 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............24 DEPARTURE..........-4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............753 DEPARTURE.........+71 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5344 DEPARTURE.........+94 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4804 DIFFERENCE.......+540 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................52 WNW AT 2:22 P.M. AERO.......................52 WNW AT 4:12 P.M. * ASOS.......................53 S AT 11:13 P.M. DAVIS......................52 W AT 3:09 P.M. RMY 53 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................39 WNW AT 3:43 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................39 W AT 3:43 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................36 S AT 11:14 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............17.6 WNW ASOS.....................17.1 DAVIS....................15.3 WSW [249 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...Trace DEPARTURE.............-0.19 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.00 DEPARTURE.............-2.91 ASOS..............1.01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........11.09 DEPARTURE.............-1.24 ASOS.............11.55 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE..............-0.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................2.5 DEPARTURE..............-7.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............84.3 DEPARTURE.............+27.3 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: R.M. Young wind gust recording system TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 3/1 34/12/23/-8/0.00/0.0/458/68 28 SSW AERO 29 MPH SSW RMY 30 3/2 37/28/33/2/T/T/014/02 22 SW AERO 22 MPH SW RMY 29 3/3 28/11/20/-12/0.00/0.0/000/00 29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY N/A 3/4 29/6/18/-14/0.00/0.0/444/65 17 SW AERO 16 MPH SW RMY 17 3/5 27/16/22/-10/0.02/0.3/000/00 21 NE AERO 20 MPH N RMY 23 3/6 26/7/17/-15/0.00/0.0/689/100 23 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY N/A 3/7 35/16/26/-7/0.00/0.0/449/65 18 SE AERO 17 MPH SE RMY 18 3/8 52/27/40/+7/0.00/0.0/673/97 26 NW AERO 29 MPH NNW RMY 27 3/9 40/25/33/0/0.00/0.0/669/96 28 NW AERO 29 MPH NW RMY 29 3/10 42/26/34/+1/0.03/0.8/196/28 21 S AERO 22 MPH S RMY 27 3/11 56/34/45/+11/0.00/0.0/450/64 33 W AERO 33 MPH W RMY 34 3/12 53/34/44/+10/0.50/T/120/17 29 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY 30 3/13 33/12/23/-11/0.14/1.4/007/01 43 NW AERO 45 MPH NW RMY 45 3/14 37/10/24/-11/0.00/0.0/498/70 39 SSW AERO 41 MPH SSW RMY 42 3/15 54/35/45/+10/0.01/0.0/450/63 50 WNW AERO 58 MPH WNW RMY 54 3/16 34/21/28/-7/0.00/0.0/509/71 36 W AERO 36 MPH WNW RMY 37 3/17 30/13/22/-14/0.00/0.0/562/78 25 N AERO 26 MPH N RMY 19 3/18 35/16/26/-10/0.00/0.0/701/97 18 ENE AERO 16 MPH ENE RMY 18 3/19 44/23/34/-2/..../.../.../.. 24 E AERO 23 MPH E RMY 26 3/20 51/35/43/+6/..../0.0/.../.. 36 W AERO 37 MPH W RMY 39 3/21 42/29/36/-1/0.00/0.0/.../.. 40 W AERO 41 MPH W RMY 42 3/22 55/26/41/+4/T/0.0/.../.. 52 WNW AERO 52 MPH WNW RMY 53 3/23 morning low temp: 30F; the normal low is now 29F DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2014 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 23 HIGH 78 IN 1938 LOW 3 IN 1934 PRE 2.52 INS. IN 2010 SNOW 3.0 INS. IN 1977 WIND 78e MPH W IN 1940 RECORDS FOR MARCH 24 HIGH 70 IN 1920 LOW 6 IN 1906 PRECIP 1.51 INS. IN 1956 SNOWFALL 12.3 INS. IN 1956 PEAK GUST 71 MPH W IN 1968 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono