BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
 
DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
 
HEAVY RAIN LAST NIGHT AND EARLY THIS MORNING
MUCH NICER THIS AFTERNOON
 
Occasional drizzle, showers, and a few downpours began to impact the summit
by 2:00 PM yesterday.  The main rainfall from this system came in the early
hours of this morning, however, with a storm total of 1.30 inches of rain
measured.  By 8:00 EDT this morning, the rain had tapered to just a few
sprinkles, and clearing was visible to the SW.  Stratocumulus were slow to
break up for much of the morning, but by noontime the sky to the west was
almost completely clear, and by 2:00 EDT most of the sky was clear.  After
warm and humid weather for the past couple days, today we have kept the
warmth, with a high so far of 72F, but lowered the humidity, with dew points
falling to the upper 40s by 2:00 EDT.  Winds were fairly strong at times out
of the SSE and S yesterday and early this morning, with some gusts over 30mph
and an average wind speed for yesterday of nearly 20mph.  Today, the wind has
turned more to the SW and W, and has been much lighter. 
 
This rain event has just barely pushed May above average for precipitation,
by 0.01 inch.  With half the month behind us, May has been a significantly
warmer than normal month so far, averaging close to four degrees above
average per day, with just three below average days.  
 
Today's Observations:
 
7 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus, stratus fractus drifting above and below the
summit all quadrants, clear sky SW, dense fog NE, thin fog all quadrants
except S-SW
Temperature: 62F; Dew Point: 62F; Wind: S at 8 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.91 ins. Hg, rising then rising more rapidly
Visibility: 15 miles, except 1 mile NE, 40 miles S-SW  
6-hr max temp: 64F
6-hr min temp: 62F
24-hr precip: 1.30 inches
6-hr precip (ASOS): 1.07 inches
BHO SA 1155 E45 BKN 15 128/62/62/1908/991/ STFRA DRFTNG ABV AND BLO SMT ALQDS
CLR SKY SW DNS FG NE THN FG ALQDS XCPT S-SW VSBY NE 1 S-SW 40 RE50/
8/7// 53013 MANUAL 70130 ASOS 60107 70134 10064 20062
 
10 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus, broken altostratus, broken cirrus, few
cumulus fractus W-NW 
Temperature: 63F; Dew Point: 58F; Wind: W at 9 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.94 ins. Hg, rising then rising more slowly
Visibility: 55 miles, distant haze 
3-hr precip: Trace
BHO SA 1455 E45 BKN 150 BKN 230 BKN 55 140/63/58/2709/994/ FEW CUFRA W-NW
DSNT HZ/ 8/511 51012 MANUAL 6000/
 
1 P.M. 
Weather: Clear, few cumulus fractus, dense cirrus distant NNW-SE 
Temperature: 72F; Dew Point: 48F; Wind: WSW at 10 kts,
Wind: Direction variable SSW-W
Sea-level pressure: 29.96 ins. Hg, rising slightly
Visibility: 50 miles
6-hr max temp: 72F
6-hr min temp: 60F
6-hr precip: Trace
BHO SA 1755 CLR 55 145/72/48/2510/996/ FEW CUFRA DNS CI DSNT NNW-SE DSNT HZ
WND 21V28/ 8/102 51005 MANUAL 6000/ 10072 20060
 
WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014
 
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....73    NORMAL.....66
MIN.....60    NORMAL.....48
MEAN....67    NORMAL.....57
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................+10
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.........................+65 [+3.9 DEGREES/DAY]
 
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............. 0  DEPARTURE..........-9
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............108  DEPARTURE.........-61     
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........6279  DEPARTURE.........+76     
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5658  DIFFERENCE.......+621
 
COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN-DEC)
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............2   DEPARTURE........ .+1
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............13   DEPARTURE..........+7
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............13   DEPARTURE..........+5
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE........3   DIFFERENCE........+10
 
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................36  S   AT  11:04 A.M.   
                   ASOS.......................42  S   AT  11:04 A.M.    
                   DAVIS......................39  S   AT  11:04 A.M. RMY 41
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................30  S   AT  11:09 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................29  S   AT  11:19 A.M.  
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................27  S   AT  11:09 A.M. 
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............19.3 SSE      
                   ASOS......................17.6    
                   DAVIS.....................16.9 SSE [160 deg]
 
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....1.30  DEPARTURE.............+1.18
                         ASOS..............1.34
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.96  DEPARTURE.............+0.01      
                         ASOS..............1.99
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........21.08  DEPARTURE.............+0.58
                         ASOS.............21.52
 
SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE...............0.0
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0  DEPARTURE...............0.0
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............85.6  DEPARTURE.............+22.9
 
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MAY 2014 CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATA REPORTED:
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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
 
5/1  64/43/54/+1/0.49/0.0/093/11          32 SSE RMY 36
5/2  68/51/60/+7/T/0.0/457/54             28 W   RMY 29
5/3  66/48/57/+4/0.00/0.0/332/39          21 SW  RMY N/A 
5/4  60/47/54/0/0.01/0.0/400/47           51 WNW RMY 54
5/5  64/46/55/+1/T/0.0/592/70             30 NW  RMY 32
5/6  63/42/53/-1/T/0.0/506/59             30 NW  RMY 30
5/7  64/42/55/0/0.00/0.0/850/99           21 WNW RMY 23
5/8  69/48/59/+4/0.00/0.0/612/71          17 SSW RMY 19
5/9  57/51/54/-1/0.05/0.0/000/00          21 S   RMY N/A 
5/10 78/57/68/+13/0.10/0.0/043/05         33 S   RMY 37
5/11 79/58/69/+13/0.01/0.0/746/86         30 W   RMY N/A
5/12 85/49/67/+11/0.00/0.0/.../..         39 NE  RMY 42
5/13 54/42/48/-8/0.00/0.0/.../..          32 NE  RMY N/A
5/14 73/42/58/+1/T/..../0.0/.../..        22 S   RMY 24
5/15 77/57/67/+10/T/..../0.0/.../..       27 S   RMY 33
5/16 73/60/67/+10/..../0.0/.../..         36 S   RMY 41
 
5/17 morning low temp: 62F; the normal low is now 48F
 
DAILY RECORDS FOR MAY 2014
None so far.
 
DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):    
 
RECORDS FOR MAY 17
HIGH 88F IN 1974, 1977
LOW 34F IN 1956, 1957
PRECIP 2.07 INS IN 1916
PEAK GUST 52 MPH SW IN 1967, W IN 1974
 
RECORDS FOR MAY 18
HIGH 88F IN 1906, 1936, 1986
LOW 35F IN 2002
PRECIP 1.93 INS IN 2007
SNOW TRACE IN 2002 (Ice pellets)
PEAK GUST 64 MPH SSW IN 2000
 
TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Jonathan O'Brien