BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
 
DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2016
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
 
EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME BEGAN EARLY THIS MORNING
WE REMAIN ON STANDARD TIME HERE AT THE OBSERVATORY
COLD FRONT EARLY THIS MORNING VERY MILD AIR BEHIND IT 
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMP. 46F; NORMAL LOW NO 26F!
 
Our clocks remain on Eastern Standard Time this morning
after a return to daylight time during the early hours.
All of our official data will continue to be notated in 
standard time. In our discussions we'll note when we use 
daylight time to describe unusual weather events. 
 
Today's high temperature near 60 degrees is combining
with very dry air to produce dew points in the upper
teens and relative humidity near 20% early this afternoon.
 
The continuation of warmer than normal weather this month
has brought the monthly departure from normal to plus
7 degrees!  
 
The visibility went to 90 miles at early afternoon with
a dew point 15 degrees and relative humidity down to 16%
 
Today's Observations:
 
7 A.M.
Weather: Broken dense cirrus radiatus, overcast cirrus, thin spots and breaks
in overcast SE-SW and thin spots overhead and small break in the overcast
distant NW-N
Temperature: 48F; Dew Point: 30F; Wind: NW at 13 kts
Wind: Variable direction WNW-N and gradually veering
Wind: Gust to 23 kts past hour
Sea-level pressure: 29.96 ins. Hg, rising 
Visibility: 75 miles
6-hr Max temp: 49F
6-hr Min temp: 46F
24-hr precip: Zero
BHO SA 1155 E220 BKN 250 OVC 75 145/48/30/3213/996/ DNS CI RADIATUS
THN SPTS/BINOVC SE-SW AND OVHD SML BINOVC DSNT NW-N
LGT DSNT HZ WND 29V35 GRDLY VEERING WND GUST 23 KTS PST HR/
8/002 53018 10049 20046
 
10 A.M.
Weather: Thin scattered cirrus radiatus, thin broken cirrus
Temperature: 54F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: NNW at 13G20kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.02 ins. Hg, increasing then more slowly 
Visibility: 80 miles
BHO SA 1455 250 -SCT 300 -BKN 80 165/54/24/3413G20/002/
LGT DSNT HZ WND 30V03/ 8/001 51020  
 
1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered cirrostratus, layer ESE-WSW invading from
the S-SW, thin broken cirrus   
Temperature: 60F; Dew Point: 16F; Wind: NNW at 8 kts,
Wind: Direction variable W-NNE
Sea-level pressure: 30.04 ins. Hg, rising then falling slightly
but still higher than 3 hours ago
Visibility: 90 miles
6-hr Max temp: 60F
6-hr Min temp: 48F
BHO SA 1755 250 SCT 300 -BKN 90 171/60/16/3308/004/ CS LYR
ESE-WSW INVDNG FRM S-SW WND 27V03/ 8/006 10060 20048   
 
SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016
  
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....58   NORMAL.....43
MIN.....31   NORMAL.....25
MEAN....45   NORMAL.....34
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................+11
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH........................+88 [+7.1 DEGREES/DAY]
 
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............20   DEPARTURE.........-11
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............302   DEPARTURE.........-88
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3985   DEPARTURE........-973
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5119   DIFFERENCE......-1134
 
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................30 SW  AT  8:47 P.M.  
                   ASOS........................30 SW  AT  8:47 P.M.        
                   DAVIS.......................29 SSW AT  8:47 P.M. RMY 30
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................22 SSW AT  9:34 P.M.     
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................22 SSW AT  9:33 P.M.        
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................22 SSW AT  9:33 P.M.        
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............12.5 SSW  
                   ASOS......................12.6   
                   DAVIS.....................11.3 SW [220 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..........0.75  DEPARTURE......-1.33
                         ASOS..............0.75
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........10.12  DEPARTURE......-0.38
                         ASOS.............10.71
 
SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) 
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE.......-0.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.5  DEPARTURE.......-5.6
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............38.6  DEPARTURE......-15.0
 
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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
 
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   35/20/28/-4/0.00/0.0/.../..           31 N   AERO 36 N   RMY N/A
3/6   40/25/33/+1/0.00/0.0/.../..           21 SSE AERO 21 SSE RMY N/A
3/7   49/29/39/+6/0.00/0.0/.../..           43 SSW AERO 48 SSW RMY 45
3/8   55/35/45/+12/0.00/0.0/.../..          23 S   AERO 24 S   RMY N/A
3/9   75/38/57/+24/0.00/0.0/.../..          32 S   AERO 36 S   RMY 33
3/10  64/50/57/+24/..../0.0/000/00          31 NNW AERO 38 NNW RMY 32
3/11  56/38/47/+13/T/0.0/... ..             28 NNW AERO 36 NNW RMY 29
3/12  58/31/45/+11/0.00/0.0/.../..          30 SW  AERO 33 SW  RMY 30
 
3/13  morning low temp. since midnight 46F; normal now 26F
 
DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2016
 
***3/9/16: NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 75F,
BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 71F SET BACK IN 2000.***
 
***3/10/16: NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 50F,
BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 42F SET AND TIED IN 1977, 2006***
 
DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):
 
RECORDS FOR MARCH 13
HIGH 72 IN 1990
LOW -1 IN 1885
PRECIP 2.47 INS. IN 1993
SNOWFALL 10.0 INS. IN 1993
PEAK GUST 76 MPH ENE IN 1993 [THE "STORM OF THE CENTURY"]
 
RECORDS FOR MARCH 14
HIGH 74 IN 1946
LOW 8 IN 1926
PRECIP 4.95 INS. IN 2010
SNOWFALL 6.7 INS. IN 1958
PEAK GUST 67 MPH ENE IN 2010

TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling