BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016 
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVE THROUGH IN THE EARLY MORNING
HOURS- NEW DAILY RECORD WIND GUST OF 76 MPH FROM THE SOUTH

Unusually strong February thunderstorms moved through during
the early hours of Thursday as winds began to creep higher
and higher. Temperatures crept higher as well, eventually hitting
a maximum reading of 63F, just four degrees below today's daily 
record. The temperature of 63F earlier this morning was the warmest
recorded in February on Great Blue Hill since 63F on 22 February, 1997. 

Winds had already hit 60 MPH by midnight this morning,
and by the time the main line of thunderstorms rolled through
at 2:44 AM EST winds hit their peak of 76 MPH as recorded by 
the F420C official peak gust recorder. The National Weather Service
ultrasonic anemometer clocked the same gust at an even higher 83 MPH. 

This peak gust of 76 MPH officially breaks today's daily record
wind speed of 75 MPH set back in 1965. Remarkably, this new record
is on the lower end of daily record wind speeds for the month of
February which range from 63 MPH to the monthly record of 102 MPH which
occurred in 1970. This morning's peak gust appears to be one of, if
not the highest, confirmed non-tornadic wind speed recorded in this
severe weather break out. Additionally, this morning's peak gust 
appears to be the highest wind speed recorded on Blue Hill since
October 2013. 

Rainfall came to an end during this morning's 7:00 AM EST observation
and totaled 1.46 inches for the past two days. Liquid precipitation
for the month is now over 2 inches higher than normal and 1.55 inches
above normal to start the year.

Peak gusts this morning recorded by the various anemometers at the Observatory:

Aerovane: 73 MPH (corrected by 13%, 84 MPH uncorrected)
Richards: 84 MPH
Davis: 74 MPH
420C: 76 MPH  (official manual record)
Maestro: 83 MPH
Merlin: 78 MPH
RMY: missing (anomalous gust recorded at 110 MPH)


Today's Observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Light rain, fog
Temperature: 56F; Dew Point: 55F; Wind: S at 19G30 kts,
Peak Wind: 36 knots S at 6:29 AM EST
Sea-level pressure: 29.29 ins. Hg, decreasing, then more quickly
Visibility: 1/4 of a mile, fog, light rain
6-hr Max temp: 63F 
6-hr Min temp: 56F
24-hr precip: 1.21 ins.
24-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins.
BHO SA 1155 W3 X 1/4R-F 918/56/56/1819G30/929/ PK WND 1736/29/ 8//// 
58011 ASOS 60088 70142 MANUAL 70121 10063 20056

10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered stratus fractus, broken altocumulus,
overcast cirrostratus
Temperature: 53F; Dew Point: 51F; Wind: S at 16G24 kts
Peak Wind: 25 knots ENE at 9:37 AM EST
Sea-level pressure: 29.22 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly
Visibility: 15 miles, except 20 miles WSW-NE, thin fog
3-hr precip: Trace
BHO SA 1455 13 SCT E140 BKN 200 OVC 15 894/53/51/1816G24/922/ 
VSBY WSW-NE 20 MI SHWRS DSNT ENE-SSE THN FG ALQDS PK WND 1826/12/ 
8/ 58024 ASOS 60001 MANUAL 6000/

1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus,
broken cirrostratus retreating 
Temperature: 54F; Dew Point: 41F; Wind: S at 23G34 kts
Peak Wind: 34 knots S @ 12:54 PM EST
Sea-level pressure: 29.12 ins. Hg, falling, then more slowly
Visibility: 25 miles, thin fog
6-hr Max temp: 57F
6-hr Min temp: 52F
6-hr precip: Trace 
BHO SA 1755 40 SCT 160 SCT E250 BKN 25 862/54/41/1923G34/912/ 
THN FG ALQDS PK WND 1934/54/ 8/538 56032 ASOS 60001 MANUAL 6000/ 
10057 20052 


SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016 
  
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....60   NORMAL.....39
MIN.....33   NORMAL.....21 
MEAN....47   NORMAL.....30

DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................+17
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+77 [+3.0 DEGREES/DAY]

HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............18   DEPARTURE.........-17
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............820   DEPARTURE.........-79
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3562   DEPARTURE........-868
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4523   DIFFERENCE.......-961

PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) 
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................60 S   AT 11:57 P.M.                        
                   ASOS........................62 SSE AT 11:58 P.M.     
                   DAVIS.......................60 SSE AT 11:57 P.M. RMY N/A
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................43 S   AT 11:57 P.M.     
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................41 S   AT 11:58 P.M.      
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................41 S   AT 11:53 P.M.      
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...............17.2 NE
                   ASOS........................17.1  
                   DAVIS.......................15.2 E [097 Deg.]

PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....1.21  DEPARTURE......+1.05
                         ASOS..............1.42
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.55  DEPARTURE......+2.13
                         ASOS..............6.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........9.32  DEPARTURE......+1.55  
                         ASOS..............9.94

SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE.......-0.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............22.5  DEPARTURE......+10.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............38.1  DEPARTURE.......-7.0

PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA
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

2/1   64/40/52/+26/0.00/0.0/305/51          36 WNW AERO 37 W   RMY 34
2/2   48/31/40/+14/0.00/0.0/602/100         23 NW  AERO 23 WNW RMY N/A
2/3   55/34/45/+19/0.80/0.0/000/00          55 SSE AERO 58 SSE RMY 53
2/4   55/39/47/+21/..../0.0/000/00          37 W   AERO 36 W   RMY 35
2/5   39/19/29/+3/..../12.5/000/00          37 NNW AERO 39 NNW RMY 35
2/6   35/17/26/0/0.00/0.0/532/87            25 SSW AERO 24 SSW RMY 23 
2/7   43/26/35/+8/0.00/0.0/.../..           35 ENE AERO 35 ENE RMY N/A
2/8   36/16/26/-1/..../.../000/00           53 NE  AERO 55 NE  RMY 53
2/9   26/17/22/-5/..../.../000/00           21 N   AERO 22 N   RMY N/A
2/10  33/21/27/+0/0.01/0.0/.../..           23 W   AERO 23 W   RMY 21
2/11  26/7/17/-10/T/T/.../..                39 W   AERO 47 W   RMY 42
2/12  23/4/13/-14/0.00/0.0/.../..           31 WNW AERO 38 WNW RMY 21
2/13  21/-7/7/-21/0.00/0.0/.../..           41 W   AERO 46 WNW RMY 43 
2/14  10/-14/-2/-30/0.00/0.0/632/100        33 WNW AERO 46 WNW RMY N/A
2/15  32/-2/15/-13/..../1.2/.../..          24 E   AERO 28 E   RMY N/A
2/16  55/32/44/+16/..../0.0/.../..          65 SSE AERO 69 SSE RMY 64
2/17  43/30/37/+9/0.00/0.0/.../..           33 W   AERO 35 W   RMY N/A
2/18  32/20/26/+3/0.00/0.0/.../..           25 NNW AERO 29 NW  RMY 25 
2/19  39/16/28/-1/0.01/T/.../..             24 SSW AERO 26 SSW RMY N/A
2/20  58/31/45/+16/..../.../.../..          44 SSW AERO 44 SSW RMY 41
2/21  53/39/46/+17/0.00/0.0/.../..          39 WNW AERO 43 WNW RMY 39 
2/22  45/29/37/+8/0.00/0.0/.../..           18 NW  AERO 20 NW  RMY 17
2/23  37/25/31/+1/..../T/.../..             26 E   AERO 26 E   RMY N/A
2/24  60/33/47/+17/..../0.0/000/00          60 S   AERO 66 S   RMY N/A

2/25  morning low temp. since midnight 33F; normal now 21F

DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2016

2/14/16: **NEW DAILY RECORD LOW MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF -14F,
SURPASSING PREVIOUS RECORD OF -8F SET IN 1979**

2/14/16: **TIED DAILY RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 10F,
MATCHING PREVIOUS RECORD OF 10F SET IN 1979**

2/25/16: **NEW DAILY RECORD PEAK WIND GUST OF 76 MPH S,
SURPASSING PREVIOUS RECORD OF 75 MPH S IN 1965**

DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): 

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 25
HIGH 67F IN 1976
LOW -10F IN 1894
PRECIP 2.40 INCHES IN 1981
SNOWFALL 13.6 INCHES IN 1966
PEAK GUST 76 MPH S IN 2016

RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 26
HIGH 67F IN 1957
LOW -7F IN 1928
PRECIP 2.24 INCHES IN 1979
SNOWFALL 11.1 INCHES IN 1933
PEAK GUST 66 MPH W IN 1961

TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald