BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2015     ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME STORMS CLEARS THE REGION, BRINGING GUSTY WESTERLY WINDS AND LIQUID PRECIPITATION TOTAL OF 1.15 INS AND 2.5 OF SNOW Last evening temperatures rose from a mid morning low of 33F to 51F just after 8:00 PM EST. After midnight, temperatures plummeted 11 degrees from 46F to 35F by the 7:00 AM EST observation. Skies had cleared revealing a bright full moon and stars. By today's 1:00 PM EST observation, a peak gust of 46 MPH from the W had been reached for the day at  11:47 AM EST with other instruments recording gusts of 50 MPH or higher. Today's midnight to midnight maximum temperature will likely be 46F, which was reached at midnight this morning.  The corrected mean wind speed for December 2014 of 12.2 mph was the lowest on record for the month, and the annual mean wind speed for 2014 of 12.3 mph was  the third lowest on record.   SOME OF THE DECEMBER 2014 PRELIMINARY STATS  TEMPERATURE:  Deg. F Av. Max. 42.0 Av. Min. 29.3 MEAN     35.7 [+4.3] 24-hour corrected mean: 35.5 Max. temp: 63 deg. Dec.  1 Min. temp: 14 deg. Dec. 31 Total heating degree day units:   901 [-135]  Total heating degree day units for the season beginning July 1: 2060 [-245]  PRECIPITATION: Ins.  Total: 7.21 [+2.32] Greatest in 24 hours;  Snowfall:  2.3 [-11.1] Seasonal: 11.0 [-5.0] WIND:  Av. uncorrected wind speed: 11.8 MPH  Av.   corrected wind speed: 12.2 MPH  Prevailing wind direction: W @ 14% SUNSHINE:  Astronomical total minutes:   5880/16999 or 35% Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 5688/16470 or 35% Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus in all directions, few altocumulus distant E-S     Temperature: 35F; Dew Point: 23F; Wind: W at 17G26 kts Peak Wind: 31 kts W @ 06:18 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.81 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly                        Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr max temp: 41F 6-hr min temp: 34F  24-hr precip.: 0.17 ins  24-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins BHO SA 1155 CLR 70 096/35/23/2817G26/981/ FEW SC ALQDS FEW AC DSNT E-S PK WND 2831/18/ 8/530 53028 ASOS 70020 MANUAL 70017 10041 20034    10 A.M.  Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered cirrus, virga in the vicinity of the station NW, showers distant W-NNE Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 28F; Wind: W at 21G29 kts, Peak Wind: 34 kts WNW @ 09:34 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.93 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly  BHO SA 1455 50 SCT 250 SCT 70 137/34/28/2821G29/993/  VIRGA VCNY STN NW SHWRS DSNT W-NNE PK WND 2934/34/ 8/501 51041 1 P.M.  Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, showers distant WSW-N Temperature: 31F; Dew Point: 7F; Wind: W at 22G33 kts, Peak Wind: 28 kts W @ 12:25 PM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.93 ins. Hg, about the same Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr max temp: 35F 6-hr min temp: 31F 6-hr precip.: 0.00 ins BHO SA 1755 55 SCT 70 136/31/7/2822G33/993/ SHWRS DSNT WSW-N PK WND 2738/25/ 8/500 55001 10035 20031   SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....51   NORMAL.....34 MIN.....33   NORMAL.....18 MEAN....42   NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................+16 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.........................+21 [+5.1 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............23  DEPARTURE..........-16 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............133  DEPARTURE..........-21      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........2193  DEPARTURE.........-265 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......2488  DIFFERENCE........-295 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................30 SSW  AT   8:09 P.M.                      ASOS.......................32 SSW  AT   8:09 P.M.                      DAVIS......................31 SSW  AT   8:09 P.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................25 SSW  AT   7:51 P.M.    MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................24 SW   AT   7:51 P.M.    MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................23 SSW  AT   7:51 P.M.   AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............13.2 SW                     ASOS......................13.9                        DAVIS.....................12.1 SW [224 degrees]                  PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.17  DEPARTURE.....+0.03                           ASOS..............0.20 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.15  DEPARTURE.....+0.57                           ASOS..............1.17   TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........1.15  DEPARTURE.....+0.57                          ASOS..............1.17   SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE......-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................2.5  DEPARTURE......+0.2  TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............13.5  DEPARTURE......-6.7   PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER-JANUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/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 12/1  63/37/50/+13/0.01/0.0/391/70             28 WNW RMY 31 12/2  37/30/34/-2/0.10/T/000/00                26 E   RMY 29 12/3  49/34/42/+6/0.31/0.0/000/00              40 W   RMY 43  12/4  41/27/34/-1/0.00/0.0/505/91              29 WNW RMY N/A  12/5  42/23/33/-2/0.12/0.0/382/69              21 E   RMY 22 12/6  43/36/40/+5/0.99/0.0/000/00              25 NNW RMY N/A 12/7  36/18/27/-7/0.15/0.0/193/35              31 N   RMY 34 12/8  25/16/21/-13/0.01/0.1/000/00             24 N   RMY N/A 12/9  48/25/37/+3/3.23/0.0/000/00              48 ENE RMY 52 12/10 47/35/41/+8/0.42/0.0/000/00              35 NNE RMY 37  12/11 35/29/32/-1/0.05/0.5/000/00              27 SW  RMY 27   12/12 36/26/31/-2/0.00/0.0/230/42              23 WNW RMY 25 12/13 40/27/34/+2/0.00/0.0/191/35              28 NW  RMY 28  12/14 43/28/36/+4/0.00/0.0/377/69              20 NW  RMY 20 12/15 41/28/35/+3/0.00/0.0/535/98              17 NW  RMY 17 12/16 42/33/38/+7/T/T/011/02                   17 E   RMY N/A 12/17 45/37/41/+10/0.43/0.0/000/00             27 W   RMY N/A  12/18 41/32/37/+6/0.02/T/213/39                35 WNW RMY 38    12/19 34/25/30/0/0.00/0.0/000/00               26 NW  RMY 29 12/20 32/24/28/-2/0.11/1.0/164/30              21 NNE RMY 23  12/21 31/29/30/+0/0.08/0.7/000/00              20 NNE RMY 22 12/22 42/29/36/+7/0.01/0.0/038/07              23 E   RMY N/A 12/23 44/39/42/+13/0.31/0.0/000/00             28 ENE RMY 30  12/24 61/40/51/+22/0.63/0.0/000/00             32 SSW RMY 41  12/25 61/41/51/+23/0.21/0.0/213/39             37 W   RMY 43 12/26 47/35/41/+13/0.00/0.0/540/99             24 WSW RMY 28 12/27 50/35/43/+15/0.00/0.0/519/95             21 SSW RMY N/A 12/28 49/35/42/+14/0.02/0.0/038/07             31 W   RMY 36 12/29 41/26/34/+7/0.00/0.0/470/86              23 WNW RMY 23 12/30 27/16/22/-5/0.00/0.0/470/86              22 NW  RMY N/A   12/31 28/14/21/-6/0.00/0.0/400/73              23 W   RMY N/A 1/1   31/18/25/-2/0.00/0.0/.../..              29 SSW RMY 30  1/2   37/26/32/+5/0.00/0.0/.../..              35 WSW RMY 38 1/3   34/21/28/+2/..../.../.../..              25 SE  RMY 26    1/4   51/33/42/+16/..../.../000/00             30 SSW RMY N/A 1/5 morning low temp: 34F since midnight; normal low is now 18F DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2014: -DAILY PRECIPITATION RECORD FOR DECEMBER 9 2014 Old record of 1.51 inches set in 1952, replaced with new record of 3.23 inches. -DAILY TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR DECEMBER 24 2014         Old record of 58F set in 1996,         replaced with new record of 61F. DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2015 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):      RECORDS FOR JANUARY 5 HIGH 61F IN 2007 LOW -9F IN 1981 PRECIP 0.98 INS. IN 1993 SNOW 4.5 INS. IN 1891 PEAK GUST 70 MPH WNW IN 1959 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 6 HIGH 66F IN 2007 LOW -14F IN 1896 PRECIP 3.10 INS. IN 1889 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 1893 PEAK GUST 70 MPH WNW IN 1959 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald