BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME CHILLY MORNING LOW OF 18F TO START THE DAY, FREEZING RAIN POTENTIALLY ON THE WAY Following yesterday's daytime high of just 36F, the mercury slid overnight to a low of 18F for a short time near sunrise. Temperatures have  risen slowly, with high cirrus infiltrating the sky by mid morning. By the 1:00 PM EST observation cirrostratus was nearly completely overcast with visibility dropping to 70 miles in all directions, down from yesterday's exceptional 90 miles. A maximum temperature of  37 had been recorded thus far. 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 23 inches as of this morning. This is the 39th 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 13th) 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) 39 days, 3 Feb - 13 Mar, 2015 (through 1 PM March 13th) 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: Clear, few cirrus in all directions Temperature: 21F; Dew Point: 6F; Wind: NW at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.62 ins. Hg, rising steadily Visibility: 80 miles 6-hr Max temp: 22F 6-hr Min temp: 18F 24-hr snowfall: None 24-hr precip: None Snow depth: 23 inches  BHO SA 1155 CLR 80 370/21/6/3211/062/ FEW CI ALQDS/ 8/001 4/023 52010 10022 20018 10 A.M.  Weather: Scattered cirrostratus, few altocumulus distant SW Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 7F; Wind: NNW at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.60 ins. Hg, falling, then more slowly Visibility: 80 miles BHO SA 1455 250 SCT 80 363/30/7/3308/060/ FEW ACSL DSNT SW/ 8/045 56007 1 P.M. Weather: Broken cirrostratus Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 11F; estimated WNW at 6 kts Wind Speed: Light Sea-Level Pressure: 30.54 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr Max temp: 37F 6-hr Min temp: 21F BHO SA 1755 E200 BKN 70 343/36/11/E2906/054/ WND LGT/ 8/006 58020 10037 20021   SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....38   NORMAL.....43 MIN.....23   NORMAL.....25 MEAN....31   NORMAL.....34 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL............................-3 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........................-21 [-2.0 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............34  DEPARTURE...........+3 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............411  DEPARTURE..........+21      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5119  DEPARTURE.........+161 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5016  DIFFERENCE........+103 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................44 N   AT  5:30 A.M.                    ASOS.......................49 NNW AT  5:31 A.M.                     DAVIS......................42 N   AT  5:30 A.M. RMY 48 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................34 NW  AT 10:20 A.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................31 NW  AT 10:26 A.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................29 NW  AT 10:26 A.M.        AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............17.8 NW                      ASOS.....................16.7                       DAVIS....................15.0 NW [311 degrees]  * last of several occurrences..   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00  DEPARTURE.....-0.16                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.75  DEPARTURE.....-1.33                            ASOS..............0.78  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........12.09  DEPARTURE.....+1.72                          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......-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................5.9  DEPARTURE......-0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............143.4  DEPARTURE.....+90.4  PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 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 52/32/42/+9/..../0.0/.../..              28 S   RMY 27 3/11 55/38/47/+13/..../0.0/.../..             37 WNW RMY N/A 3/12 38/23/31/-3/0.00/0.0/.../..              44 N   RMY 48 3/13 morning low temp: 18F since midnight, normal low is now 26F 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 13 HIGH 72 IN 1990 LOW -1 IN 1885 PRECIP 2.47 INS. IN 1993 SNOWFALL 10.0 INS. IN 1993 PEAK GUST 76 MPH ENE IN 1993 [THE "STORM OF THE CENTURY"] RECORDS FOR MARCH 14 HIGH 74 IN 1946 LOW 8 IN 1926 PRECIP 4.95 INS. IN 2010  SNOWFALL 6.7 INS. IN 1958 PEAK GUST 67 MPH ENE IN 2010 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald