BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016   ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME SKIES TURN MOSTLY CLOUDY AHEAD OF COLD FRONT, UPDATED DROUGHT MONITOR LESSENS DROUGHT RATING FOR SE MASSACHUSETTS Morning skies were mostly cloudy with stratocumulus and cirrus, but no precip. has yet been measured today.  Stratocumulus slowly dissipated into few cumulus by early afternoon while cirrus clouds became more dense as the day progressed.  Visibility also improved through the day as thin morning fog burned away. Today has been a warm day with a low since midnight of 52F, 8F above  average. Temperatures reached a max. of 70F by 1:00PM EST, 9F above  average.  Dew points have been increasing over the past couple days  and reached the mid 50s late this morning. The large amount of rain from this past weekend has helped to lessen the drought rating for southeast Massachusetts from 'extreme' to 'severe'; however, a large portion of the state, including BHO, is still in an extreme drought. 7 A.M.  Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, broken cirrus Temperature: 55F; Dew Point: 52F; Wind: SSE at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.11 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 20 miles, except 15 miles NE-SSE, distant fog NE-SSE 6-hr Max temp: 55F 6-hr Min temp: 52F 24-hr precip: 0.00 in. BHO SA 1155 40 SCT E250 BKN 20 197/55/52/1610/011/ VSBY 15 NE-SSE DSNT FG NE-SSE/ 8/501 58008 10055 20052 10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, broken cirrus Temperature: 64F; Dew Point: 56F; Wind: SSW at 9 kts, Wind Direction: SSE-SW Sea-level pressure: 30.07 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 40 miles BHO SA 1455 E26 BKN 250 BKN 40 183/64/56/2109/007/ WND 16V23/ 8/501 58014 1 P.M. Weather: Few cumulus in all directions, broken cirrus Temperature: 70F; Dew Point: 53F; Wind: SSW at 10G16 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.99 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr Max. temp: 70F 6-hr Min. temp: 55F BHO SA 1755 E250 BKN 70 156/70/53/2010G16/999/ FEW CU ALQDS/ 8/102 58027 10070 20055 SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016   TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....68   NORMAL.....62 MIN.....49   NORMAL.....44 MEAN....59   NORMAL.....53 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................+6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.......................+15 [+1.1 DEGREES/DAY] COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC) TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY...............0   DEPARTURE...........0 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...............0   DEPARTURE..........-4 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............894   DEPARTURE........+293 TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.......810   DIFFERENCE........+84  HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY...............6   DEPARTURE..........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............105   DEPARTURE.........-20 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............180   DEPARTURE.........-87 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.......167   DIFFERENCE........+13 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................17 S  AT  9:14 P.M.                     ASOS........................18 S  AT  9:06 P.M.                      DAVIS.......................16 S  AT 12:07 P.M. RMY 17  FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................14 S  AT  9:08 P.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................14 S  AT  9:24 P.M.   MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................13 S  AT  9:15 P.M.    AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..............8.3 S                    ASOS.......................8.4                    DAVIS......................7.5 S [190 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..........3.30  DEPARTURE......+1.52                          ASOS..............3.31 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........30.62  DEPARTURE.....-10.24                          ASOS.............30.95    PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 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 M:    Missing data 10/1  57/52/55/-2/1.22/000/00                 33 NNE AERO  M  RMY 34 10/2  55/52/54/-3/0.19/.../..                 23 N   AERO  M  RMY N/A 10/3  69/53/61/+5/0.00/.../..                 21 ENE AERO  M  RMY 20 10/4  61/47/54/-2/T/.../..                    26 NE  AERO  M  RMY 27 10/5  61/44/53/-3/0.00/.../..                 22 NE  AERO  M  RMY 21 10/6  71/46/59/+4/0.00/.../..                 16 SW* AERO  M  RMY 15 10/7  75/54/65/+10/0.00/.../..                16 S   AERO  M  RMY 16 10/8  69/53/61/+7/0.00/.../..                 23 SSW AERO  M  RMY 23 10/9  63/44/54/0/1.89/.../..                  28 N   AERO  M  RMY 34 10/10 57/40/49/-5/0.00/.../..                 32 NW  AERO  M  RMY 32 10/11 62/39/51/-2/0.00/.../..                 17 N   AERO  M  RMY N/A 10/12 68/49/59/+6/0.00/.../..                 17 S   AERO  M  RMY 17 10/13 Low temp since midnight is 52F; normal low is now 44F DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):  RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 13 HIGH 84F IN 1930,1954 LOW 29F IN 2012 PRECIP 5.92 INCHES IN 1895 SNOWFALL 4.2 INCHES IN 1934 PEAK GUST 46e MPH W IN 1950 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 14 HIGH 79F IN 2000 LOW 28F IN 1958 PRECIP 2.69 INCHES IN 1990 SNOWFALL 2.0 INCHES IN 1913 PEAK GUST 63e W IN 1976 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Cecilia Borries-Strigle