BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME SHOWERS, VIRGA MOVE THROUGH THIS MORNING, COLD AIR TO ENTER THE REGION OVERNIGHT Yesterday's midnight to midnight temperatures of a maximum of 60F and minimum of 41F provided an almost perfectly 'normal' temperature day, with plentiful sunshine and excellent visibility. This morning, temperatures dipped to a low of 47F, with showers and virga visible at the 7:00 AM EST observation. A couple brief showers, not totaling more than a trace, were sparked around 8:00 AM EST this morning. A large rainbow in vicinity of the station was visible just before showers moved overhead. By the 10:00 AM EST observation virga and showers had moved to our east and winds shifted to the W, gusting to a peak of 32 MPH so far. Visibility had improved significantly to the west to 70 plus miles. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, broken altocumulus, broken cirrus, few cumulus distant ESE-WNW, showers distant SW-NNE, virga overhead Temperature: 51F; Dew Point: 45F; Wind: SW at 13 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.88 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly Visibility: 35 miles, except 20 miles SW-NNW, 15 miles N-NNE, obscured by showers, virga and thin fog 6-hr Max temp: 51F 6-hr Min temp: 47F 24-hr precip: 0.00 ins. BHO SA 1155 E80 BKN 150 BKN 250 BKN 35 119/51/45/2213/988/ VSBY SW-NNW 20 MI N-NNE 15 MI SHWRS DSNT SW-NNE VIRGA OVHD FEW CU DSNT ESE-WNW THN FG ALQDS/ 8/551 53005 10051 20047 10 A.M. Weather: Virga NW-E, scattered altocumulus, few stratocumulus E-N, few stratocumulus lenticularis distant N, light rain shower ending 9:10 AM EST. Temperature: 53F; Dew Point 42F; Wind: W at 18G24 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.89 ins. Hg, falling, then rising and higher Visibility: 70 miles, except 40 miles N-ESE, obscured by virga 3-hr precip: Trace BHO SA 1455 100 SCT 70 123/53/42/2718G24/989/ RW-E10 VSBY N-ESE 40 MI VIRGA DSNT NW-E FEW SC E-N FEW SCSL DSNT N/ 8/530 53004 MANUAL 6000/ SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....60 NORMAL.....61 MIN.....41 NORMAL.....43 MEAN....51 NORMAL.....52 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................-1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+9 [+0.4 DEGREES/DAY] COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC) TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY...............0 DEPARTURE...........0 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...............0 DEPARTURE..........-4 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............810 DEPARTURE........+209 TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.......587 DIFFERENCE.......+223 HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............14 DEPARTURE..........+1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............148 DEPARTURE.........-16 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............191 DEPARTURE........-115 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.......239 DIFFERENCE........-48 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................20 SW AT 11:44 P.M.* ASOS........................23 SW AT 11:45 P.M. DAVIS.......................20 SW AT 10:46 P.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.................... 17 SW AT 10:56 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................17 SW AT 11:53 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................16 SW AT 10:57 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..............9.1 WNW ASOS.......................9.5 DAVIS......................7.8 W [273 DEG] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.00 DEPARTURE.....-0.15 ASOS...............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........1.06 DEPARTURE.....-1.16 ASOS...............1.04 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........34.46 DEPARTURE.....-6.10 ASOS................N/A *** *** ASOS annual total not available due to erroneous readings PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/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 10/1 55/51/53/-4/..../000/00 39 NE RMY N/A 10/2 51/47/49/-8/..../000/00 40 NE RMY 43 10/3 51/45/48/-8/..../000/00 38 NE RMY N/A 10/4 55/49/52/-4/0.00/474/68 35 E RMY 40 10/5 59/46/53/-3/T/125/18 21 NE RMY 20 10/6 68/43/56/+1/0.00/663/96 17 NW RMY 17 10/7 69/46/58/+3/0.00/640/93 20 W RMY 20 10/8 63/49/56/+2/0.00/678/99 21 S RMY N/A 10/9 68/50/59/+5/0.27/.../.. 45 S RMY 49 10/10 59/44/53/-2/0.00/.../.. 33 NNW RMY N/A 10/11 67/46/57/+4/0.00/.../.. 26 SW RMY 28 10/12 76/50/63/+10/0.00/.../.. 22 SSW RMY 24 10/13 70/55/63/+10/0.27/.../.. 23 S RMY 24 10/14 66/46/56/+4/0.00/.../.. 26 W RMY 29 10/15 60/41/51/-1/0.00/.../.. 20 SW RMY 27 10/16 low since midnight is 47F; normal low is now 43F DAILY RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 2015 -NONE SO FAR. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 16 HIGH 86F IN 1897 LOW 28F IN 1886 PRECIP 2.82 INCHES IN 1974 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 2009 PEAK GUST 68e MPH SSE IN 1954 (HURRICANE HAZEL) RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 17 HIGH 86F IN 1947 LOW 25F IN 1886 PRECIP 1.87 INCHES IN 1989 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1970 PEAK GUST 55 MPH NE IN 1964 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald