BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2016 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME A BRIEF RETURN TO WINTER! ALBEIT SHORTLIVED ARCTIC AIR MASS ARRIVES LATE YESTERDAY AND OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE DROPS TO 16F; 6 DEG. BELOW NORMAL FOR FIRST TIME SINCE FEBRUARY 19TH PATCHES OF THIN ICE FORM ON NEARBY PONDS The arrival of an Arctic air mass dropped the temperature down from a high of 38 degrees at mid-day yesterday to 22 degrees at midnight and then to 16 degrees by 6:30 A.M. Yesterday was the first day since February 19, which also had a minimum temperature of 16 degrees, that the temperature went below normal. The dew point dropped to near zero overnight and the ski area began making new snow. A bit of thin ice formed on the completely thawed Houghtons and Ponkapoag Ponds. Both ponds were considered to be completely thawed on February 25th. Both ponds had frozen late this year on January 6th. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, stratocumulus offshore distant ENE-ESE, cirrus ESE-SW Temperature: 18F; Dew Point: 6F; Wind: WNW at 6 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.07 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 75 miles, distant light haze 6-hr Max temp: 21F 6-hr Min temp: 16F BHO SA 1155 CLR 75 182/18/6/2906/007/ SC OFFSHR DSNT ENE-ESE CI ESE-SW LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/501 51013 10021 20016 10 A.M. Weather: Thin broken cirrus, two levels, clear sky W-NE Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 4F; Wind: W at 5 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.07 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 75 miles BHO SA 1455 250 -BKN 300 -BKN 75 184/25/4/2505/007/ CLR SKY W-NE WND LGT/ 8/001 50002 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, cirrus distant ESE-SSW AND distant W-NW Temperature: 35F; Dew Point: 4F; Wind: SSW at 9 kts Wind: Direction variable w Sea-level pressure: 30.00 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze 6-hr Max temp: 35F 6-hr Min temp: 18F BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 158/34/4/2109/000/ CI LYRS DSNT ESE-SSW/W-NW LGT DSNT HZ WND 17V24/ 8/001 58026 10035 20018 SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....38 NORMAL.....39 MIN.....22 NORMAL.....21 MEAN....30 NORMAL.....30 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..........................0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+97 [+3.5 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............35 DEPARTURE...........0 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............870 DEPARTURE.........-98 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3612 DEPARTURE........-887 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4499 DIFFERENCE......-1001 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................42 WNW AT 1:55 A.M. ASOS........................41 W AT 12:20 P.M. DAVIS.......................41 WNW AT 12:20 P.M. RMY 41 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................30 W AT 9:37 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................29 W AT 9:37 A,M, MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................26 W AT 1:12 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...............19.3 W ASOS........................19.3 DAVIS.......................16.4 WNW [300 Deg.] 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..........5.60 DEPARTURE......+1.86 ASOS..............6.02 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........9.37 DEPARTURE.......+1.28 ASOS..............9.96 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.......+9.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............38.1 DEPARTURE.......-8.0 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 63/37/50/+15/..../0.0/.../.. 76 S AERO 84 S RMY N/A 2/26 38/22/30/0/..../0.0/.../.. 42 WNW AERO 44 WNW RMY 41 2/27 morning low temp. since midnight 16F; normal now 22F 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 27 HIGH 61F IN 1976 LOW -8F IN 1900 PRECIP 1.43 INCHES IN 2013 SNOWFALL 6.0 INCHES IN 1922 PEAK GUST 67 MPH W IN 1985 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 28 HIGH 62F IN 1976 LOW -2F IN 1907,1934 PRECIP 1.79 INCHES IN 1958 SNOWFALL 8.5 INCHES IN 2005 PEAK GUST 88e MPH SSW IN 1943 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling