BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME TEMPS HIT 52F, FIRST TIME TO THE  50F MARK SINCE JANUARY 18TH Gusty westerly winds yesterday were not enough to keep the mercury from climbing to a maximum reading of 44F after the 1:00 PM EST observation. Overnight, temperatures were not able to fall below freezing, with a minimum of 32.2 F.  Clear skies this morning quickly gave way to a translucent overcast of cirrostratus, with rain expected later today. By the 1:00 PM EST observation a halo was visible around the sun with winds shifting to the south, with a maximum temperature reading of 52F. Visibility had fallen to 40 miles in all directions with distant  haze in all directions. Seasonal snowfall has now reached 143.4 inches, just 1.0 inch below the snowiest season on record set in 1995-1996. For more information about this historic  winter, visit our web site at bluehill.org. The average snow depth has fallen to 31 inches as of this morning. This is the 36th consecutive day with 20 inches  or more of snow on the ground which is firmly in second place all time.  The record is 53 days set back in 1948.    BHO Greatest Seasonal Snowfall, inches (1885-2015): 1) 144.4 in 1995-1996 2) 143.4 in 2014-2015 (through 1 PM March 10th) 3) 136.0 in 1947-1948 4) 119.4 in 2004-2005 5) 113.1 in 2002-2003 6) 111.5 in 1915-1916 7) 109.6 in 1966-1967 8) 106.8 in 1955-1956 9) 103.4 in 1903-1904 10) 102.5 in 1922-1923 BHO Longest Duration of 20"+ Snow Depth, (1885-2015): 1) 53 days, 27 Dec, 1947 - 17 Feb, 1948 2) 36 days, 3 Feb - 10 Mar, 2015 (through 1 PM March 10th) 3) 34 days, 5 Feb - 9 Mar, 1920    34 days, 7 Feb - 12 Mar, 1978 5) 23 days, 25 Feb - 19 Mar, 1969 6) 21 days, 27 Jan - 16 Feb, 2011 7) 11 days, 15-25 Mar, 1916    11 days, 5-15 Jan, 1961 Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken cirrostratus invading, few altocumulus  lenticularis distant NW-N Temperature: 35F; Dew Point: 16F; Wind: W at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.33 ins. Hg, rising steadily Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr Max temp: 35F 6-hr Min temp: 32F 24-hr snowfall: None 24-hr precip: None Snow depth: 31 inches  BHO SA 1155 E250 BKN 70 271/35/16/2709/033/  FEW ACSL DSNT NW-N/ 8/046 4/031 51015 10035 20032 10 A.M.  Weather: Thin overcast of cirrostratus, partial halo around the sun, dark smoke layer along the  horizon NNW-NE Temperature: 46F; Dew Point: 16F; Wind: estimated SSW at 5 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.35 ins. Hg, rising, then falling Visibility: 60 miles, except 40 miles NNW-NE, obscured by dark smoke layer and light distant haze BHO SA 1455 E240 -OVC 60 277/46/16/E2005/035/  VSBY NNW-NE 40 MI DRK K LYR ALNG HRZN NNW-NE  LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS PARTIAL HALO ARND SUN WND LGT/ 8/007 50006 1 P.M. Weather: Thin overcast of cirrostratus, halo around the sun Temperature: 51F; Dew Point: 23F; W at 10G19 kts Sea-Level Pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 40 miles, light distant haze 6-hr Max temp: 52F 6-hr Min temp: 35F BHO SA 1755 E280 -OVC 40 252/51/23/1910G19/027/  HALO ARND SUN LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS/ 8/007 58025 10052 20035   SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....45   NORMAL.....42 MIN.....28   NORMAL.....24 MEAN....37   NORMAL.....33 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL............................+4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........................-40 [-4.6 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............28  DEPARTURE...........-4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............336  DEPARTURE..........+40      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5044  DEPARTURE.........+180 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4944  DIFFERENCE........+100 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................40 W   AT 11:30 A.M.                    ASOS.......................43 W   AT 11:31 A.M.                     DAVIS......................39 W   AT 12:18 P.M. RMY 39 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................34 W   AT 11:37 A.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................32 W   AT 11:36 A.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................28 W   AT 11:36 A.M.        AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............15.6 W                      ASOS.....................15.6                       DAVIS....................13.7 WSW [252 degrees]  * last of several occurrences..   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00  DEPARTURE.....-0.18                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.64  DEPARTURE.....-0.93                            ASOS..............0.66  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........11.98  DEPARTURE.....+2.12                          ASOS...............N/A ***  *** ASOS annual totals not available due to erroneous readings SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................5.9  DEPARTURE......+1.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............143.4  DEPARTURE.....+91.8  PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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 2/1  28/8/18/-8/0.00/0.0/582/97               29 WNW RMY N/A 2/2  29/8/19/-7/1.53/16.5/000/00              44 NE  RMY 46 2/3  21/0/11/-15/0.00/0.0/593/98              31 NW  RMY N/A             2/4  36/14/25/-1/0.00/0.0/164/27              31 S   RMY 33 2/5  34/4/19/-7/0.15/3.5/000/00               38 NW  RMY 39 2/6  19/-2/9/-17/0.00/0.0/392/64              28 NW  RMY 27     2/7  25/14/20/-7/0.08/1.1/000/00              25 WSW RMY N/A 2/8  29/11/20/-7/0.78/12.2/000/00             30 NNE RMY 29 2/9  19/12/16/-11/1.59/13.6/000/00            29 N   RMY 28 2/10 28/12/20/-7/0.10/0.8/081/13              29 N   RMY 29 2/11 24/15/20/-7/0.03/1.4/000/00              30 N   RMY 29 2/12 28/14/21/-6/0.02/0.6/000/00              31 NW  RMY N/A 2/13 20/2/11/-17/0.00/0.0/630/100             35 NW  RMY 35 2/14 26/1/14/-14/..../.../241/38              24 NW  RMY N/A 2/15 18/-6/6/-22/..../.../000/00              53 NW  RMY 59 2/16 17/-8/5/-23/0.00/0.0/606/95              43 NW  RMY N/A 2/17 21/5/13/-15/0.12/2.0/064/10              18 NW  RMY 16 2/18 28/15/22/-7/..../.../039/06              17 W   RMY N/A 2/19 26/6/16/-13/0.02/0.3/116/18              40 W   RMY 43 2/20 15/0/8/-21/0.00/0.0/630/97               38 W   RMY 40 2/21 32/3/18/-11/..../.../462/71              39 SSW RMY 42 2/22 39/27/33/+4/..../.../327/50              25 WSW RMY N/A 2/23 28/1/15/-15/0.00/0.0/204/31              38 WNW RMY 44 2/24 18/-6/6/-24/..../.../574/87              26 S   RMY 27 2/25 32/11/22/-8/..../.../650/98              35 W   RMY 36 2/26 21/15/18/-12/0.04/0.6/000/00             25 NE  RMY 24 2/27 25/9/17/-14/0.00/0.0/669/100             20 NW  RMY N/A 2/28 30/5/18/-13/0.00/0.0/671/100             22 NW  RMY N/A 3/1  29/14/22/-9/..../.../.../..              25 SSW RMY 25 3/2  35/22/29/-2/..../.../.../..              44 WNW RMY 48 3/3  32/13/23/-9/..../2.8/.../..              33 S   RMY N/A 3/4  41/32/37/+5/..../.../000/00              33 SW  RMY 36   3/5  36/16/26/-6/0.02/0.2/000/00              28 NW  RMY 29 3/6  26/5/16/-16/0.00/0.0/.../..              28 NW  RMY 25 3/7  38/13/26/-7/0.00/0.0/.../..              30 WSW RMY 30  3/8  41/25/33/0/T/T/.../..                    38 WNW RMY 41 3/9  45/28/37/+4/0.00/0.0/.../..              40 W   RMY 39 3/10 morning low temp: 32F since midnight, normal low is now 25F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2015 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 2 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 16.5 INS. surpasses previous record:  5.5 ins. in 1916, 1934 -NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 9 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 13.6 INS. surpasses previous record: 13.0 ins. in 1969 DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2015 -NONE SO FAR DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):   RECORDS FOR MARCH 10 HIGH 69 IN 1977 LOW 2 IN 1984 PRECIP 2.00 INS. IN 1994 SNOWFALL 4.0 INS. IN 1997 PEAK GUST 80 MPH NW IN 1974 RECORDS FOR MARCH 11 HIGH 65 IN 1967 LOW 4 IN 1939, 1960 PRECIP 2.11 INS. IN 1901 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 1934 PEAK GUST 66e MPH W IN 1980 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald