BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME DECEMBER FINISHES AS THE WARMEST ON RECORD...NEARLY FIVE DEGREES WARMER THAN PREVIOUS RECORD FOR THE MONTH... THIRD RECORD WARM MONTH IN 2015...GREATEST POSITIVE TEMPERATURE DEPARTURE FOR ANY MONTH...DECEMBER ALSO AMONG CLOUDIEST ON RECORD... Despite the cool feel to the weather in recent days, the temperatures remain generally warmer than average for this time of year. The low this morning of 27F was well above the normal of 19F for January 2nd. Highs have reached the middle 30s at mid-afternoon with dew points in the upper teens. Extensive cloudiness earlier this morning was accompanied by a faint sun pillar as the sun came over the horizon, and snow virga was visible for a short time from the north to the east just after sunrise. In addition to the 24-hour mean temperature for December setting a new record, the average maximum and minimum temperatures for the month were also new records. December was the third month this year, including May and September, to set a new record for warmest month, The monthly temperature departure (of the 24-hour mean relative to the long-term average) of +13.1 degrees F is the largest positive temperature departure for any month of the year on record. Despite the warmth, sunshine was a scarce commodity during the December, and the total sunshine duration of 93.3 hours, or 34 percent of possible was the tenth lowest on record for the month and 12 percent less than the long-term mean. BHO Warmest Decembers (24-hour Mean), deg F (1885-2015) 1) 42.9 in 2015 2) 38.1 in 2006 3) 37.5 in 2011 4) 37.3 in 2001 5) 37.2 in 1891 6) 36.9 in 1998 7) 36.7 in 1990 BHO Largest Monthly 24-Hour Mean Temperature Departure from the Long-Term Mean, deg F (1885-2015): 1)+13.1 in December 2015 2) +9.9 in January 1913 3) +9.3 in January 1932 4) +9.1 in March 1946 5) +9.0 in March 2012 6) +8.9 in January 1937 7) +8.5 in February 1984 BHO Lowest December Sunshine, hours (1885-2015): 1) 72.9 in 1972 [27%] 2) 81.0 in 1982 [29%] 3) 87.2 in 1933 [32%] 4) 88.2 in 1996 [32%] 5) 89.0 in 1922 [32%] 6) 89.5 in 1981 [33%] 7) 91.1 in 1906 [33%] 8) 92.0 in 2012 [34%] 9) 92.9 in 2013 [34%] 10) 93.3 in 2015 [34%] PRELIMINARY STATS FOR DECEMBER 2015 TEMPERATURE, Deg. F Avg. Max. 50.5 [+11.4] Avg. Min. 36.9 [+13.3] Mean 43.7 [+12.4] 24-hour Corrected Mean: 42.9 [+13.1] Max. for month: 67 on 24th Min. for month: 23 on 29th, 30th HEATING DEGREE DAYS Total cooling units: 654 [-389] Total for the season: 1656 [-649] Total for last season: 2060 PRECIPITATION, Inches Total: 4.27 [-0.49] Greatest in 24 hrs: N/A Snowfall: 1.3 [-12.1] Greatest in 24 hrs: 1.3 ins. on the 29th WIND, mph Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 11.3 Avg. corrected wind speed: 11.8 Prevailing wind direction: W @ 12% Peak gust and direction: 48 W on the 15th SUNSHINE: Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 5598 mins. of possible 16470 or 34% Astronomical total minutes: 5786 mins. of possible 17002 or 34% Long-term average for December is 46% Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, broken altocumulus, few cumulus distant E-S, few stratocumulus castellanus distant ENE-E, few stratocumulus lenticularis SSW-NW, snow virga E-ESE, hazy faint sun piller above rising sun Temperature: 27F; Dew Point: 18F; Wind: WSW at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 45 miles, visibility NW 40 6-hr Max temp: 29F 6-hr Min temp: 27F 24-hr precip: 0.00 ins. Snow depth: Trace BHO SA 1155 E50 BKN 85 BKN 45 141/27/18/2509/995/ FEW CU DSNT E-S FEW SCCAS DSNT ENE-E FEW SCSL SSW-NW SNW VIRGA E-ESE HAZY VSBY NW 40 SUN PILLAR/ 8/53/ 53014 10029 20027 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cumulus/cumulus fractus W, few stratocumulus distant W-N and ENE-ESE, hazy Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 19F; Wind: W at 9G16 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.98 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 45 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 45 152/32/19/2609G16/998/ FEW CU/CUFRA W FEW SC DSNT W-N AND ENE-ESE HAZY VSBY ENE-SE 50/ 8/500 53011 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cirrus fibratus, few cumulus fractus vicinity station, few stratocumulus all quadrants, light distant haze Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 19F; Wind: W at 12G21 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.91 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly Visibility: 60 miles, visibility WNW-NW 50 6-hr Max temp: 37F 6-hr Min temp: 27F BHO SA 1755 250 SCT 60 127/36/19/2812G21/991/ FEW CUFRA VCNTY STN FEW SC ALQDS LGT DSNT HZ VSBY WNW-NW 50/ 8/501 56025 10037 20027 SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016 NEW YEAR'S DAY TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....37 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....29 NORMAL.....19 MEAN....33 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+6 [+6.0 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............32 DEPARTURE..........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..............32 DEPARTURE..........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........1688 DEPARTURE........-655 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......2100 DIFFERENCE.......-412 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................29 W AT 11:34 A.M. ASOS........................26 W AT 11:35 A.M. DAVIS.......................23 N AT 11:35 A.M. RMY 29 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................24 WNW AT 11:36 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................23 WNW AT 11:36 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................20 WNW AT 11:36 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............12.0 W ASOS......................11.5 DAVIS.....................10.4 W [279 Deg.] *Last of several occurrences... 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..........0.00 DEPARTURE......-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.00 DEPARTURE......-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.......-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0 DEPARTURE.......-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON...............1.3 DEPARTURE......-15.3 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER/JANUARY 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 12/1 42/30/36/-1/0.16/0.0/000/00 19 NNE RMY 19 12/2 53/37/45/+9/0.20/0.0/000/00 25 SSE RMY 25 12/3 53/37/45/+9/0.01/0.0/162/29 43 WNW RMY 42 12/4 47/32/40/+5/0.00/0.0/444/80 32 NW RMY 32 12/5 50/33/42/+7/0.00/0.0/548/99 21 W RMY N/A 12/6 57/35/46/+11/0.00/0.0/531/96 22 SW RMY N/A 12/7 54/37/46/+12/0.00/0.0/353/64 31 NE RMY N/A 12/8 42/35/39/+5/0.01/0.0/000/00 32 NE RMY 31 12/9 44/34/39/+5/..../0.0/044/08 28 SSE RMY N/A 12/10 57/41/49/+16/T/0.0/209/38 29 SE RMY N/A 12/11 56/44/50/+17/0.00/0.0/049/09 28 SSW RMY 28 12/12 59/46/53/+20/0.00/0.0/367/67 23 W RMY N/A 12/13 54/44/49/+17/0.00/0.0/000/00 18 ESE RMY 19 12/14 60/43/52/+20/..../0.0/000/00 32 S RMY N/A 12/15 61/45/53/+21/..../0.0/371/68 48 W RMY 51 12/16 45/34/40/+9/0.00/0.0/415/76 25 N RMY N/A 12/17 53/36/45/+14/..../0.0/000/00 29 SE RMY 28 12/18 50/35/43/+12/..../0.0/000/00 29 NW RMY 30 12/19 38/30/34/+4/0.00/0.0/480/88 39 W RMY 40 12/20 40/28/34/+4/0.00/0.0/491/90 24 W RMY N/A 12/21 51/31/41/+11/T/0.0/000/00 38 SSW RMY 42 12/22 57/49/53/+24/0.28/0.0/000/00 35 SW RMY 35 12/23 54/47/51/+22/..../0.0/000/00 * 30 E RMY 27 12/24 67/48/58/+29/..../0.0/033/06 37 SSW RMY 39 12/25 64/52/58/+30/..../0.0/240/44 23 N RMY N/A 12/26 53/40/47/+19/..../0.0/436/80 26 NNW RMY N/A 12/27 52/35/44/+16/..../0.0/000/00 36 NW RMY 33 12/28 35/27/31/+3/T/T/355/65 33 NW RMY 33 12/29 38/23/31/+4/..../1.3/000/00 35 ENE RMY 35 12/30 34/23/29/+2/..../T/000/00 17 SSE RMY N/A 12/31 44/32/38/+11/..../0.0/258/47 * 25 WNW RMY 25 * Temperature max, mean and departure corrected for 23rd, and sunshine for the 31st corrected 1/1 37/29/33/+6/..../.../.../.. 29 W RMY 29 1/2 low since midnight is 27F; normal low is now 19F DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2015 **12/13/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 44F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 43F SET IN 1919, TIED 1983 **12/24/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 67F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 61F SET IN 2014 **12/24/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 48F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 46F SET IN 1900 **12/25/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 64F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 62F SET IN 1889 **12/25/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 52F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 46F SET IN 1964 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2 HIGH 62F IN 1890 LOW -7F IN 1899,1918 PRECIP 2.10 INS. IN 1987 SNOWFALL 9.0 INS. IN 1904 PEAK GUST 85e MPH S IN 1942 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 3 HIGH 64F IN 2000 LOW -4F IN 1904 PRECIP 1.93 INS. IN 1999 SNOW 11.3 INS. 1996 PEAK GUST 92 MPH S IN 1960 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono / Rob Millette