BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2016 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME THUNDERSTORM ON FRIDAY EVENING BRINGS A SHORT PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN...CLEAR SKY EARLY TODAY BECOMES PARTLY CLOUDY AS HIGH CLOUDS STREAM INTO THE AREA...MUCH DRIER BY AFTERNOON WITH DEW POINTS IN THE UPPER 40S... JUNE 2016 WAS THE SEVENTH SUNNIEST ON RECORD... A thunderstorm on Friday evening brought a total of 0.20 inches of much needed precipitation with about half of this falling in 15 minutes. A peak gust during the thunderstorm of 28 mph from the SSW was observed at 8:35 PM EST, though the peak gust for Friday of 32 mph S occurred at mid-afternoon. The sky was nearly totally clear early this morning, but high clouds gradually moved in along with a few small cumulus during the morning. A veil of cirrostratus filtered the sunshine at the 1 PM EST observation and a complete, though faint, halo was observed around the sun at that time. The dew point has dropped from about 70F on Friday evening to the upper 40s this afternoon. Visibility has been excellent all day near 75 miles. The final heating degree day total for the 2015-2016 season is 5282. This is among the lowest HDD seasonal totals on record. A list will be provided when available. Sunshine duration for June totaled 301.6 hours (sun card hours) or 69 percent of the possible bright sunshine. This makes the month the seventh sunniest since 1886. BHO Sunniest June, hours (1886-2016): 1) 336.5 in 1971 [76%] 2) 335.5 in 1908 [76%] 3) 327.4 in 1953 [74%] 4) 322.6 in 1949 [73%] 5) 313.7 in 1912 [71%] 6) 309.1 in 1965 [70%] 7) 301.6 in 2016 [69%] 8) 295.7 in 1978 [68%] 9) 295.3 in 1979 [68%] 10) 293.7 in 1901 [67%] PRELIMINARY STATS FOR JUNE 2016 TEMPERATURE, Deg. F Avg. Max. 77.3 [+2.3] Avg. Min. 57.2 [+0.1] Mean 67.3 [+1.2] 24-hour corrected mean: 66.6 Max. for month: 86 on 26th and 30th Min. for month: 48 on 9th HEATING DEGREE DAYS Total heating units: 34 [-39] Total for the season: 5282 [-1094] (Final seasonal total) Total for last season: 6505 COOLING DEGREE DAYS Total cooling units: 109 [+4] Total for the season: 157 [+28] Total for last season: 138 PRECIPITATION, Inches Total: 1.62 [-2.69] Greatest in 24 hrs: 0.76 in. on 5th WIND, mph Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 11.2 Avg. corrected wind speed: 11.6 Prevailing wind direction: S at 24% Peak gust and direction: 41 WNW on 8th, 41 W on 12th SUNSHINE: Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 18096 mins. of possible 26376 or 69% Astronomical total minutes: 18822 mins. of possible 27423 or 69% Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cumulus distant NE-E, SE-S and W-NNW, few cirrus distant NE-SE Temperature: 63F; Dew Point: 56F; Wind: W at 13 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.87 in. Hg, rising, then more rapidly Visibility: 75 miles 6-hr Max temp: 67F 6-hr Min temp: 62F 24-hr precip: 0.20 in. BHO SA 1155 CLR 75 116/63/56/2813/987/ FEW CU DSNT NE-E SE-S W-NNW FEW CI DSNT NE-SE/ 8/101 53017 70020 10067 20062 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered cirrus spissatus, few cirrus uncinus, few lower cumulus, dense cirrus SW-WNW Temperature: 72F; Dew Point: 54F; Wind: W at 13G21 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.88 in. Hg, rising slightly Visibility: 75 miles BHO SA 1455 40 SCT 200 SCT 75 120/72/54/2913G21/988/ FEW LWR CU DNS CI SW-WNW/ 8/102 51004 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, broken cirrostratus and cirrus fibratus, full solar halo Temperature: 75F; Dew Point: 51F; Wind: W at 17G24 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.87 in. Hg, falling slightly Visibility: 75 miles 6-hr Max temp: 76F 6-hr Min temp: 63F BHO SA 1755 55 SCT 250 BKN 75 115/75/51/2817G24/987/ HALO/ 8/101 56005 10076 20063 SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2016 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....84 NORMAL.....79 MIN.....67 NORMAL.....61 MEAN....76 NORMAL.....70 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................+6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.........................+6 [+5.8 DEGREES/DAY] COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC) TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............11 DEPARTURE..........+5 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..............11 DEPARTURE..........+5 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............168 DEPARTURE.........+33 TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.......145 DIFFERENCE........+23 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................32 S AT 2:53 P.M. ASOS........................34 S AT 2:53 P.M. DAVIS.......................33 S AT 3:18 P.M. RMY 34 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................28 S AT 2:52 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................26 S AT 2:53 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................25 S AT 1:55 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............13.2 S ASOS......................12.7 DAVIS.....................11.6 S [191 Deg.] * Last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.20 DEPARTURE......+0.09 ASOS..............0.18 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.20 DEPARTURE......+0.09 ASOS..............0.18 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........21.89 DEPARTURE......-5.19 ASOS.............22.30 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JUNE 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 6/1 71/54/63/+1/0.00/860/95 26 NE AERO 30 NE RMY N/A 6/2 68/54/61/-1/0.00/444/49 21 NE AERO 22 NE RMY 21 6/3 70/57/64/+2/T/173/19 16 SSW AERO 17 SSW RMY 16 6/4 81/61/71/+8/0.00/491/54 18 S AERO 21 S RMY 20 6/5 67/60/64/+1/0.76/000/00 32 SSE AERO 36 SSE RMY 34 6/6 80/63/72/+9/0.00/747/82 26 W AERO 28 W RMY 27 6/7 83/58/71/+7/0.18/602/66 32 WNW AERO 36 WNW RMY 33 TSTM 6/8 72/52/62/-2/0.05/684/75 37 WNW AERO 41 WNW RMY 38 TSTM 6/9 67/48/58/-6/0.00/466/51 41 WNW AERO 45 WNW RMY 40 6/10 71/50/61/-4/0.00/823/90 25 W AERO 28 W RMY 26 6/11 68/52/60/-5/0.06/155/17 30 SSW AERO 35 SSW RMY 31 6/12 76/51/64/-1/T/558/61 41 W AERO 48 W RMY 42 6/13 70/49/60/-5/0.00/641/70 36 NW AERO 46 NW RMY 38 6/14 77/50/64/-2/0.00/889/97 32 NNW AERO 38 NNW RMY 33 6/15 83/60/72/+6/0.00/852/93 22 NW AERO 26 NW RMY 25 6/16 82/62/72/+6/0.00/660/72 26 E AERO 28 E RMY 27 6/17 77/59/68/+1/T/834/91 25 E AERO 28 E RMY 23 TSTM 6/18 75/55/65/-2/0.00/899/98 22 SSW AERO 24 SSE RMY N/A 6/19 79/55/67/+0/0.00/807/88 32 S AERO 35 S RMY 36 6/20 81/57/69/+1/0.00/871/95 25 S AERO 28 S RMY 27 6/21 82/61/72/+1/0.40/596/65 30 WSW AERO 31 W* RMY 33 6/22 79/59/69/+1/0.01/495/54 31 NW AERO 35 NW RMY 31 6/23 84/56/70/+2/0.00/642/70 17 S AERO 18 S RMY 18 . 6/24 77/58/68/-1/0.00/889/97 20 NE AERO 21 NE RMY 20 6/25 80/60/70/+1/0.00/889/97 16 ENE AERO 17 ENE RMY 16 6/26 86/59/73/+4/0.00/870/95 25 S AERO 26 S RMY 26 6/27 84/60/72/+3/T/641/70 32 S AERO 35 S* RMY 34 6/28 77/66/72/+2/0.15/018/02 26 S AERO 29 S RMY 27 6/29 85/66/76/+6/0.01/439/48 28 WNW AERO 28 WNW RMY 29 TSTM 6/30 86/63/75/+5/0.00/887/97 17 WSW AERO 18 WSW*RMY 19 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JULY 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 7/1 84/67/76/+6/0.20/.../.. 32 S AERO 35 S RMY 34 7/2 low temp since midnight is 62F; normal low now 62F DAILY RECORDS FOR JUNE 2016 None DAILY RECORDS FOR JULY 2016 None so far DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JULY 2 HIGH 95F IN 1963 LOW 47F IN 1988 PRECIP 1.42 INS IN 1986 PEAK GUST 45 MPH SW IN 1999 RECORDS FOR JULY 3 HIGH 99F IN 1911 LOW 47F IN 1914 PRECIP 1.36 IN 1985 PEAK GUST 52 MPH NW IN 1963 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono