BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016  ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME HEAVY RAIN FALLS OVERNIGHT, FOG, SHOWERS AND ABOVE NORMAL WARMTH CONTINUE THROUGH THIS MORNING Rain began lightly and in starts and fits during the morning and early afternoon yesterday. Rain began to fall heavily in the evening, coming to a total of 0.80 inches of rain before midnight. Rain showers began this morning just prior to the 7:00 AM EST observation with fog thickening and reducing visibility. By today's 1:00 PM EST observation another 0.04 inches of rain had fallen with winds shifting to the W to NW after the passing of a cold front. The stalled out cold front just to our east has kept showers just  offshore this afternoon with reduced visibility of 35 miles to the E and 70 miles to the W. Temperatures have likely reached the maximum for the day already at 55F this morning. The month of January finished significantly warmer than normal, at 4.0 degrees F above normal. The average minimum temperature of 22.3F was more than 5 degrees above normal as well.  January was drier than normal as well, with precipitation 0.58 inches less than normal, and 2.8 inches less than normal for snow. PRELIMINARY STATS FOR JANUARY 2016   TEMPERATURE, Deg. F Avg. Max. 37.2 [+3.4] Avg. Min. 22.3 [+5.2] Mean      29.5 [+4.0] 24-hour Corrected Mean: 29.5 Max. for month: 58 on 10th Min. for month:  4 on  5th   HEATING DEGREE DAYS Total cooling units: 1086 [-140]  Total for the season: 2742 [-789] Total for last season: 3531   PRECIPITATION, Inches Total: 3.77 [-0.58] Greatest in 24 hrs: 1.55 ins. on the 10th Snowfall: 14.3 [-2.8] Greatest in 24 hrs: 7.1 ins. on the 23rd   WIND, mph Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 13.7 Avg. corrected wind speed: 14.0 Prevailing wind direction: NW @ 19% Peak gust and direction: 55 WNW on the 19th   SUNSHINE: Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 8964 out of 17130 poss. or 149.7 hours or 52% Astronomical total minutes:   9243 out of 17638 poss. or 152.5 hours or 52% Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Fog, light rain showers begin 6:47 AM EST Temperature: 54F; Dew Point: 54F; Wind: SSW at 15G23 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.88 ins. Hg, falling, then rising but lower still    Visibility: 1/2 of a mile, fog and light rain showers 6-hr Max temp: 54F  6-hr Min temp: 53F 24-hr precip: 0.80 ins. 24-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins. Snow depth: 0 ins. BHO SA 1155 W3 X 1/2RW-F 120/54/54/2015G23/988/  RW-B47/ 8//// 55002 ASOS 70085 MANUAL 6000/ 70080 10054 20053 10 A.M. Weather: Light rain showers begin 9:40 AM EST, wind shift 9:31 AM EST, overcast stratus, few stratus fractus distant SE-SSW Temperature: 50F; Dew Point: 48F; Wind: NW at 13G22 kts, Peak Wind: 32 knots W at 9:34 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, rising quickly, then falling, but higher than 3 hrs ago Visibility: 10 miles, except 50 miles WSW-NW, light rain showers, thin fog 3-hr precip: 0.04 ins. BHO SA 1455 E20 OVC 10RW- 141/50/48/3113G22/995/  RW-B40 VSBY WSW-NW 50 MI WSHFT 1431 FEW STFRA DSNT SE-SSW  THN FG ALQDS PK WND 2632/34/ 8/6// 50021 ASOS 60004 MANUAL 60004  1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, overcast cirrostratus, few cumulus fractus distant ESE-SE, thin spot in overcast NW Temperature: 52F; Dew Point: 41F; Wind: estimated WNW at 6 kts, Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, about the same as 3 hrs ago Visibility: 35 miles, except 70 miles SW-N 6-hr Max temp: 55F 6-hr Min temp: 48F 6-hr precip: 0.04 ins. BHO SA 1755 E60 BKN 250 OVC 35 141/52/41/E3006/995/ VSBY SW-N 70 MI  FEW CUFRA DSNT ESE-SE THN SPTS INOVC NW WND LGT/  8/506 50000 ASOS 60004 MANUAL 60004 10055 20048  SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016     TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....55   NORMAL.....35 MIN.....34   NORMAL.....17  MEAN....45   NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................+19 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+59 [+19.5 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............20   DEPARTURE.........-19 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..............58   DEPARTURE.........-60 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........2800   DEPARTURE........-848 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......3495   DIFFERENCE.......-695 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................55 SSE AT  10:30 P.M.                                           ASOS........................53 S   AT   6:16 P.M.                        DAVIS.......................50 SSE AT  10:22 P.M. RMY 53 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................40 S   AT   6:16 P.M.     MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................38 S   AT   6:17 P.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................36 SSW AT   6:17 P.M.      AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...............22.4 SSE                    ASOS........................21.1                     DAVIS.......................19.7 S [177 Deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.80  DEPARTURE......+0.67                          ASOS..............0.85 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.80  DEPARTURE......+0.40                          ASOS..............0.85 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........4.57  DEPARTURE......-0.18                            ASOS..............4.79 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE.......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0  DEPARTURE.......-1.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............15.6  DEPARTURE......-19.0 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/ AERO/RMY GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system 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 1/1   37/29/33/+6/0.00/0.0/005/01           29 W               RMY 29 1/2   37/27/32/+5/0.00/0.0/461/84           31 W               RMY N/A          1/3   41/27/34/+8/0.00/0.0/501/91           28 W               RMY 29 1/4   30/10/20/-6/T/T/000/00                29 NNW             RMY 29 1/5   23/4/14/-12/0.00/0.0/552/100          28 NNW             RMY N/A 1/6   43/17/30/+4/0.00/0.0/553/100          24 SW              RMY 24 1/7   43/25/34/+8/0.00/0.0/521/94           21 SW              RMY N/A 1/8   40/28/34/+8/0.00/0.0/000/00           28 E   AERO 25 ENE RMY 25 1/9   39/36/38/+12/T/0.0/000/00             21 ENE AERO 20 ENE RMY N/A  1/10  58/38/48/+23/1.55/0.0/000/00          53 SSE AERO 55 SSE RMY 53 1/11  48/21/35/+10/0.00/0.0/559/100         43 W   AERO 45 WSW RMY N/A 1/12  35/19/27/+2/0.18/2.2/359/64           30 SE  AERO N/A    RMY N/A 1/13  30/17/24/-1/0.02/0.2/551/98           50 W   AERO 58 W   RMY 54 1/14  28/17/23/-2/T/T/389/69                26 W   AERO N/A    RMY 25 1/15  40/23/32/+7/0.00/0.0/102/18           26 ESE AERO 25 ESE RMY 23 1/16  41/32/37/+12/1.03/T/000/00            32 NNW AERO 32 NNW RMY 28 1/17  33/26/30/+5/0.09/1.7/125/22           29 WNW AERO 28 WNW RMY N/A 1/18  26/15/21/-4/0.16/2.9/487/82           50 W   AERO 50 W   RMY 47 1/19  22/13/18/-7/0.00/0.0/194/34           55 WNW AERO 59 W   RMY 55 1/20  30/15/23/-2/0.00/0.0/471/82           46 WNW AERO 47 WNW RMY 45 1/21  30/15/23/-2/0.00/0.0/559/97           38 WNW AERO 38 NW  RMY 35 1/22  28/14/21/-4/0.00/0.0/399/69           32 NW  AERO 32 NW  RMY N/A 1/23  30/18/24/-1/0.74/7.1/000/00           54 NE  AERO 56 NE  RMY 50 1/24  33/14/24/-1/T/T/466/80                34 N   AERO 37 N   RMY 29 1/25  37/20/29/+4/0.00/0.0/444/76           22 NW  AERO 22 NW  RMY N/A  1/26  49/27/38/+13/0.00/0.0/064/11          44 SSW AERO 47 SSW RMY 43  1/27  43/27/35/+10/0.00/0.0/182/31          38 WNW AERO 40 SSW RMY 37   1/28  41/23/32/+7/0.00/0.0/537/91           29 SSW AERO 29 SSW RMY 29  1/29  39/32/36/+11/0.00/0.0/012/02          25 NW  AERO 24 NW  RMY 28   1/30  42/26/33/+8/0.00/0.0/462/81           39 SW  AERO 43 SW  RMY 38 1/31  56/36/46/+20/0.00/0.0/340/57          37 S   AERO 38 S   RMY 36 2/1   64/40/52/+26/0.00/0.0/.../..          36 WNW AERO 37 W   RMY 34 2/2   48/31/40/+14/0.00/0.0/.../..          23 NW  AERO 23 WNW RMY N/A 2/3   55/34/45/+19/0.80/0.0/.../..          55 SSE AERO 58 SSE RMY 53 2/4 morning low since midnight 53F; normal low is 17F   DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2016 **1/10/16: NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 58F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 54F SET BACK IN 2000** DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):  RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 4 HIGH 63F IN 1991 LOW -4F IN 1886, 1908 PRECIP 1.80 INS. IN 1926 SNOWFALL 15.0 INS. IN 1961 PEAK GUST 89 MPH SSE IN 1972 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 5 HIGH 65F IN 1991 LOW -14F IN 1918 PRECIP 1.55 INS. IN 2001 SNOWFALL 16.0 INS. IN 1907 PEAK GUST 67 MPH WNW IN 1969 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald