BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015      ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME ROLLER COASTER TUESDAY BRINGS RAIN, SUN, SLEET AND GUSTY NW WINDS AS COLD FRONT PASSES THROUGH REGION As a cold front pushed through the region yesterday afternoon, temperatures dropped quickly from a maximum reading of 48F around 3:30 PM EST to 36F by 4:30 PM EST, with light rain becoming ice pellets. Winds ramped up as well, eventually gusting to an official peak gust of 53 MPH from the NW by 6:00 PM EST with only a trace of ice pellets recorded.  Rainfall, totaling 0.17 inches yesterday, did little to make a dent into a nearly 1.0 inch deficit for the month; however, precipitation for the year remains 2.0 inches above normal. Clear, cold conditions were present this morning, with an overnight low of 20F. Visibility has been excellent, with an estimated 80 miles in most directions and with little cloud cover. Seasonal snowfall remains at 144.0 inches, just 0.4 inches 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 had fallen to 16 inches this morning. Our streak of 42 consecutive days with 20 inches or more of snow on the ground has ended,  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) 144.0 in 2014-2015 (through 1 PM March 18th) 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) 42 days, 3 Feb - 16 Mar, 2015  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 cumulus in all directions Temperature: 21F; Dew Point: 6F; Wind: WNW at 19G28 kts Peak Wind: 34 kts WNW @ 6:22 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.84 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly Visibility: 80 miles 6-hr Max temp: 25F 6-hr Min temp: 20F 24-hr precip: 0.10 ins 24-hr snowfall: Trace of ice pellets Snow depth: 16 inches  BHO SA 1155 CLR 80 104/21/6/3019G28/984/ FEW CU ALQDS NEW SNW PST 24 HRS TRACE PK WND 2934/22/ 8/100 4/016 53022 ASOS 70013 MANUAL 70010 10025 20020 10 A.M.  Weather: Clear, few cumulus in all directions Temperature: 26F; Dew Point: 7F; Wind: WNW at 22G36 kts Peak Wind: 40 kts WNW @ 9:28 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.84 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly Visibility: 80 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 80 106/26/7/3022G34/984/ FEW CU ALQDS PK WND 3040/28/ 8/100 53002 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few cumulus in all directions Temperature: 28F; Dew Point: 10F; Wind: NW at 32G39 kts, Peak Wind: 44 knots NW @ 12:35 P.M. EST Sea-Level Pressure: 29.84 ins. Hg, about the same Visibility: 80 miles 6-hr Max temp: 28F 6-hr Min temp: 21F BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 106/28/10/3132G39/984/ FEW CU ALQDS PK WND 3144/35/ 8/100 55000 10028 20021   SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....48   NORMAL.....44 MIN.....25   NORMAL.....27 MEAN....37   NORMAL.....36 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL............................+1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........................-28 [-1.8 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............28  DEPARTURE...........-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............568  DEPARTURE..........+28      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5276  DEPARTURE.........+168 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5199  DIFFERENCE.........+77 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................53  NW  AT  6:08 P.M.                     ASOS.......................61  W   AT  3:55 P.M.                     DAVIS......................60  W   AT  4:00 P.M.  RMY 63 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................43  W   AT  3:57 P.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................40  WNW AT  3:58 P.M.     MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................40  W   AT  3:58 P.M.     AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............18.0 NW                      ASOS......................18.1                       DAVIS.....................15.0 W [280 degrees]  * Last of several occurrences...   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.10   DEPARTURE.....-0.08                          ASOS..............0.13 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.79   DEPARTURE.....-0.99                            ASOS..............N/A  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........13.13   DEPARTURE.....+2.06                          ASOS..............N/A ***  *** ASOS monthly and annual totals not available due to erroneous readings SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........TRACE  DEPARTURE......-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................6.5  DEPARTURE......-1.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............144.0  DEPARTURE.....+88.9  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/..../.../000/00              25 SSW RMY 25 3/2  35/22/29/-2/..../.../480/71              44 WNW RMY 48 3/3  32/13/23/-9/..../2.8/340/50              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/-16/0.00/0.0/681/99              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 40/18/29/-5/0.00/0.0/.../..              23 SSW RMY 26 3/14 41/29/35/0/0.84/0.0/000/00               23 SSW RMY 23 3/15 41/24/33/-2/0.03/0.6/.../..              39 NW  RMY 39 3/16 44/23/34/-1/0.00/0.0/.../..              28 NW  RMY N/A 3/17 48/25/37/+1/0.17/T/.../..                53 NW  RMY 63 3/18 morning low temp: 20F since midnight, normal low is now 27F 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 18 HIGH 72 IN 2012 LOW 0 IN 1885 PRECIP 5.61 INS. IN 1968 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 9.3 INS. IN 1985 PEAK GUST 71e MPH WNW IN 1941 RECORDS FOR MARCH 19 HIGH 77 IN 2012 LOW -2 IN 1967 PRECIP 1.69 INS. IN 1956 SNOWFALL 17.6 INS. IN 1956 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PEAK GUST 75e MPH WNW IN 1941 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald