BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
 
DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017 
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
 
A LITTLE COOLER AND WINDY TODAY WITH A FEW SNOW FLURRIES
 
Today began as most of this month has, on a mild note, with temperatures
only falling into the mid-30s last night.  However, gusty west winds have
been moving a cooler, drier air mass into New England today, resulting in
only slow warming during the day.  The high so far of 42F is still well
above average.  Our peak wind gust for the day so far is 45mph.  A few snow
flurries were observed for a couple hours this morning, but we are dry this
afternoon with partly sunny skies.  Visibility has been superb today, up to
our station maximum of 90 miles at times this morning.  A total of 0.10
inches of rain fell yesterday, most of it coming from a brief heavy downpour
shortly before 4:00 P.M. 
 
This has been a much warmer than normal January, averaging over 7 degrees
above normal so far.  While a return to more seasonable levels is expected
in the next few days, there is a good chance we will end up amongst the 10
warmest January's on record at Blue Hill.
 
BHO Warmest January Corrected Mean Temperatures, deg F (1885-2017)
 
1) 35.6 in 1913
2) 35.0 in 1932
3) 34.6 in 1937
4) 33.9 in 2006
5) 33.8 in 1933
   33.8 in 1950
   33.8 in 1990
8) 33.5 in 2002
9) 33.1 in 2017 (through 1/26)
10)32.1 in 1967
   32.1 in 1995  
 
Today's Observations:
 
7 A.M.
Weather: Light snow, broken stratocumulus, broken dense cirrus,
light snow began 6:50 A.M.
Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 26F; Wind: WSW at 14 kts,
Wind: Direction variable SSW-W
Sea-level pressure: 29.47 ins. Hg, rising
Visibility: 65 miles
6-hr Max temp: 36F
6-hr Min temp: 36F
24-hr precip: Trace
24-hr snowfall: Trace
BHO SA 1155 E55 BKN 200 BKN 65S- 979/36/26/2414/947/ S-B50
PCPN VRY LGT NEW SNW PST 24 HRS TRACE WND 20V28/ 8/052 52012
MANUAL 6000/ MANUAL 70010 ASOS 70011 10036 20036
 
10 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus, with a few moderate tops distant E-S
Temperature: 38F; Dew Point: 23F; Wind: W at 20G28 kts,
Wind: Direction variable SW-WNW
Wind: Peak Wind 26 kts W at 9:54 A.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.49 ins. Hg, rising then falling
Visibility: 90 miles, except 75 miles W-WNW
3-hr precip: Trace
3-hr snowfall: Trace
BHO SA 1455 E45 BKN 90 985/38/23/2620G28/949/ FEW MDT SC TOPS DSNT E-S
VSBY W-WNW 75 NEW SNW PST 3 HRS TRACE WND 22V29 PK WND 2726/54/
8/5// 50006 MANUAL 6000/
 
1 P.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus
Temperature: 42F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: W at 18G30 kts,
Wind: Direction variable SW-WNW
Wind: Peak Wind 35 kts W at 12:33 P.M.
Sea-level pressure: 29.42 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly
Visibility: 80 miles
6-hr Max temp: 42F
6-hr Min temp: 36F
6-hr precip: Trace
6-hr snowfall: Trace
BHO SA 1755 E50 BKN 80 964/42/20/2618G30/942/ NEW SNW PST 6 HRS TRACE
WND 22V30 PK WND 2635/33/ 8/5// 58021 MANUAL 6000/ 10042 20036
 
SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017

TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....48   NORMAL.....34
MIN.....36   NORMAL.....17
MEAN....42   NORMAL.....25
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+17
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+204 [+7.6 DEGREES/DAY]
 
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............23   DEPARTURE.........-17
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............825   DEPARTURE........-203
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........2857   DEPARTURE........-476
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......2600   DIFFERENCE.......+257
 
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................40 W   AT 10:56 P.M.
                   ASOS........................44 W   AT 10:56 P.M.
                   DAVIS.......................41 WNW AT 10:56 P.M. RMY 41
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................33 W   AT 10:55 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................32 W   AT 10:56 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................33 WNW AT 10:55 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............15.2 W
                   ASOS......................16.1
                   DAVIS.....................13.8 W [263 deg.]
 
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.10  DEPARTURE......-0.04
                         ASOS..............0.11
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.39  DEPARTURE......+1.71
                         ASOS..............5.76
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.29  DEPARTURE......+1.71
                         ASOS..............5.65
 
SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........Trace  DEPARTURE.......-0.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............11.5  DEPARTURE.......-2.9
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............19.3  DEPARTURE......-11.1
 
 
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY CALENDAR DAY DATA
DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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
 
1/1   41/29/35/+8/0.09/0.0/533/97           35 W   AERO 36 W   RMY 34
1/2   38/29/34/+7/0.00/0.0/011/02           21 E   AERO 20 E   RMY N/A 
1/3   42/37/40/+14/1.14/0.0/000/00          39 ENE AERO 41 ENE RMY 34
1/4   44/30/37/+11/0.11/T/000/00            41 WNW AERO 46 WNW RMY 45
1/5   30/23/27/+1/0.00/0.0/343/62           37 W   AERO 39 W   RMY 38
1/6   30/20/25/-1/0.05/1.7/072/13           20 W   AERO 20 W   RMY N/A
1/7   22/14/18/-8/0.74/9.5/000/00           32 NNW AERO 39 NNW RMY 38
1/8   20/06/13/-13/0.01/T/512/92            26 NNW AERO 29 NNW RMY N/A
1/9   17/04/11/-15/0.00/0.0/335/60          23 SSW AERO 23 SSW RMY 25
1/10  41/14/28/+3/0.18/0.0/369/66           35 SE  AERO 37 SE  RMY N/A
1/11  53/40/47/+22/0.13/0.0/358/64          51 SSW AERO 48 SSW RMY 57
1/12  59/42/51/+26/0.15/0.0/118/21          37 SSW AERO 40 S   RMY 40
1/13  55/23/39/+14/0.00/0.0/535/95          39 WNW AERO 43 WNW RMY 42
1/14  30/14/22/-3/0.00/0.0/345/61           20 SSW AERO 20 SSW RMY 22
1/15  35/23/29/+4/0.00/0.0/555/98           28 NW  AERO 28 NW  RMY 28
1/16  40/22/31/+6/0.00/0.0/540/95           28 SW  AERO 25 SW  RMY 27
1/17  40/29/35/+10/0.27/T/257/45            23 E   AERO 23 E   RMY 25
1/18  38/31/30/+10/0.29/T/.../..            30 ENE AERO 29 ENE RMY 26
1/19  44/30/37/+12/0.00/T/.../..            21 NNW AERO 20 NNW RMY 20
1/20  40/30/35/+10/T/0.0/.../..             17 NNW AERO 17 NNW RMY N/A
1/21  54/35/45/+20/T/0.0/.../..             29 W   AERO 29 W   RMY 28
1/22  46/36/41/+16/0.14/T/.../..            31 ENE AERO 30 ENE RMY N/A
1/23  36/33/35/+10/0.48/0.3/.../..          56 NE  AERO 58 NE  RMY N/A
1/24  40/32/36/+11/1.48/0.0/.../..          62 NE  AERO 60 NE  RMY 60
1/25  42/32/37/+12/0.03/0.0/.../..          41 WNW AERO 40 WNW RMY 38
1/26  48/36/42/+17/0.10/0.0/.../..          40 W   AERO 44 W   RMY 41
 
1/27 Low temp since midnight is 36F; normal low is now 17F
 
DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2017
 
1/12/17: NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMP. OF 59F,
         PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 57F SET 1913 AND TIED IN 1975
1/12/17: NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMP. OF 42F,
         PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 40F SET 2006
 
DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):
 
RECORDS FOR JANUARY 27
HIGH 63F IN 1974
LOW -12F IN 1924
PRECIP 1.59 INS. IN 1996
SNOWFALL 25.2 INS. IN 2015 [RECORD FOR MONTH]
PEAK GUST 91 MPH SSE IN 1996
 
RECORDS FOR JANUARY 28
HIGH 59F IN 1916
LOW -9F IN 1888, 1924
PRECIP 2.18 INS. IN 1897
SNOWFALL 15.0 INS. IN 1897
PEAK GUST 78e MPH SSE IN 1977
 
TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Jonathan O'Brien