BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME LIGHT SNOW FRIDAY AMOUNTS TO A HALF INCH... MOSTLY SUNNY TODAY WITH HIGH CLOUDS MOVING IN... Snow showers that began around mid-day on Friday continued until shortly before midnight as a powerful ocean storm moved eastward well offshore yesterday. A total of 0.5 inches of new snow was measured on the boards this morning. Winds were gusty overnight as well with a peak to 32 mph from the north at 9:00 PM EST. The temperature reached a high of only 30F early yesterday afternoon, and this dropped to a low of 20F this morning. The high on Friday of 30F was the coldest maixmum temperature since February 14th. The sky was clear early this morning with only a few clouds visible to the east from the departing storm. During today, thin cirrus and cirrostratus have moved in to partly filter the sunshine. Visibility has been excellent today near 75 miles as very dry air has moved in with dew points settling into the single digits this afternoon. With a warm end to the month of February, the average monthly temperature of 32.2F is the 11th warmest February on record, and when combined with the warmest December on record and a warm month of January, this winter just barely became the warmest on record with an average temperature of 34.9F. BHO Warmest Februarys, deg F (1885-2016): 1) 34.9 in 1984 2) 34.3 in 2012 3) 34.0 in 1998 4) 33.9 in 1954 33.9 in 1981 6) 33.7 in 1976 7) 33.6 in 1997 33.6 in 2002 9) 33.1 in 1925 10) 32.6 in 1991 11) 32.2 in 2016 12) 31.9 in 1960 31.9 in 1999 BHO Warmest Winters, deg F (1885-2016): 1) 34.9 in 2015-2016 2) 34.8 in 2001-2002 3) 34.3 in 2011-2012 4) 32.6 in 1997-1998 5) 32.3 in 1936-1937 32.3 in 1998-1999 PRELIMINARY STATS FOR FEBRUARY 2016 TEMPERATURE, Deg. F Avg. Max. 42.2 [+5.4] Avg. Min. 22.5 [+3.4] Mean 32.4 [+4.5] 24-hour Corrected Mean: 32.2 Max. for month: 64 on 1st Min. for month: -14 on 14th HEATING DEGREE DAYS Total heating units: 941 [-130] Total for the season: 3683 [-919] Total for last season: 4708 PRECIPITATION, Inches Total: 5.60 [+1.53] Greatest in 24 hrs: n/a Snowfall: 22.5 [+8.6] Greatest in 24 hrs: 12.5 on the 5th WIND, mph Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 14.4 Avg. corrected wind speed: 14.7 Prevailing wind direction: WNW @ 14% Peak gust and direction: 76 S on the 25th SUNSHINE: Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 9,000 out of possible 17,796 or 51% Astronomical total minutes: 9,302 out of possible 18,418 or 51% Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus castellanus offshore ENE-SE, few altocumulus distant NE-ESE Temperature: 21F; Dew Point: 13F; Wind: NNW at 13 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.14 ins. Hg, rising, then more quickly Visibility: 75 miles 6-hr Max temp: 24F 6-hr Min temp: 20F 24-hr precip: 0.04 ins. 24-hr snowfall: 0.5 inch Snow on ground: Trace BHO SA 1155 CLR 75 208/21/13/3413/014/ FEW SCCAS OFFSHR ENE-SE FEW AC DSNT NE-ESE NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.5 INS/ 8/530 53026 70004 10024 20020 10 A.M. Weather: Thin scattered cirrus, few stratocumulus NE-SSE Temperature: 27F; Dew Point: 10F; Wind: N at 11G21 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.18 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 75 miles BHO SA 1455 300 -SCT 75 220/27/10/0111G21/018/ FEW SC NE-SSE/ 8/501 50012 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrus, scattered cirrostratus, thin broken cirrus fibratus Temperature: 31F; Dew Point: 9F; Wind: N at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.16 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 75 miles 6-hr Max temp: 32F 6-hr Min temp: 21F BHO SA 1755 200 SCT 250 SCT 300 -BKN 75 214/31/9/3407/016/ FEW CU DSNT ESE-SSE/ 8/106 58006 10032 20021 SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2016 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....30 NORMAL.....41 MIN.....24 NORMAL.....23 MEAN....27 NORMAL.....32 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................-5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.........................+1 [+0.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............38 DEPARTURE..........+5 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............133 DEPARTURE..........-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3816 DEPARTURE........-886 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4857 DIFFERENCE......-1041 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................32 N AT 9:00 P.M. ASOS........................38 N AT 9:00 P.M. DAVIS.......................33 N AT 11:01 P.M. RMY 34 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................22 N AT 9:39 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................22 N AT 10:01 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................20 NNW AT 10:01 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............10.6 N ASOS......................10.7 DAVIS......................8.9 N [355 Deg.] * Last of several occurrences. PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.04 DEPARTURE......-0.13 ASOS..............0.05 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.45 DEPARTURE......-0.24 ASOS..............0.48 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........9.82 DEPARTURE......+0.71 ASOS.............10.44 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.5 DEPARTURE.......-0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.5 DEPARTURE.......-1.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............38.6 DEPARTURE......-11.0 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/+21/0.08/0.0/000/00 37 W AERO 36 W RMY 35 2/5 39/19/29/+3/1.62/12.5/000/00 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/+8/0.00/0.0/577/94 35 ENE AERO 35 ENE RMY N/A 2/8 36/16/26/-1/0.60/8.7/000/00 53 NE AERO 55 NE RMY 53 2/9 26/17/22/-5/T/T/000/00 21 N AERO 22 N RMY N/A 2/10 33/21/27/+0/0.01/0.1/006/01 23 W AERO 23 W RMY 21 2/11 26/7/17/-10/T/T/131/21 39 W AERO 47 W RMY 42 2/12 23/4/13/-14/0.00/0.0/433/69 31 WNW AERO 38 WNW RMY 21 2/13 21/-7/7/-21/0.00/0.0/459/73 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/..../1.2/178/28 24 E AERO 28 E RMY N/A 2/16 55/32/44/+16/..../0.0/006/01 65 SSE AERO 69 SSE RMY 64 2/17 43/30/37/+9/0.00/0.0/576/90 33 W AERO 35 W RMY N/A 2/18 32/20/26/+3/0.00/0.0/637/99 25 NNW AERO 29 NW RMY 25 2/19 39/16/28/-1/0.01/T/452/70 24 SSW AERO 26 SSW RMY N/A 2/20 58/31/45/+16/..../.../363/56 44 SSW AERO 44 SSW RMY 41 2/21 53/39/46/+17/0.00/0.0/475/73 39 WNW AERO 43 WNW RMY 39 2/22 45/29/37/+8/0.00/0.0/608/93 18 NW AERO 20 NW RMY 17 2/23 37/25/31/+1/..../T/000/00 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/..../0.0/218/33 76 S AERO 84 S RMY N/A 2/26 38/22/30/0/..../0.0/665/100 42 WNW AERO 44 WNW RMY 41 2/27 38/16/27/-4/0.00/0.0/654/98 31 SSW AERO 31 SSW RMY 33 2/28 56/34/45/+14/0.00/0.0/335/50 32 S AERO 37 SSW RMY N/A 2/29 63/41/52/+21/T/0.0/458/68 39 W AERO 41 W RMY N/A 3/1 45/30/38/+7/0.00/0.0/.../.. 54 W AERO 60 W RMY 53 3/2 52/21/37/+6/0.41/0.0/.../.. 44 WNW AERP 47 NW RMY 42 3/3 34/16/25/-7/0.00/0.0/.../.. 30 WNW AERO 36 WNW RMY N/A 3/4 30/24/27/-5/..../.../.../.. 32 N AERO 38 N RMY 34 3/5 morning low temp. since midnight 20F; normal now 23F 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** 2/29/16: **NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 63F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 56F SET BACK IN 1976** 2/29/16: **DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM OF 41F TIES RECORD SET IN 1896** DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 5 HIGH 64 IN 1979 LOW -2 IN 1948 PRECIP 1.76 INS. IN 2001 SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1891 PEAK GUST 76e MPH WNW IN 1971 RECORDS FOR MARCH 6 HIGH 66 IN 1894 LOW 3 IN 1948, 2007 PRECIP 1.85 INS. IN 2001 SNOWFALL 15.5 INS. IN 2001 PEAK GUST 82 MPH S IN 1959 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono