BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2018  ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME CLOUDY DAY WITH PRESSURE BEGINNING TO RISE AND TEMPERATURES DROPPING CLOSER TO NORMAL... After yesterday's unusually warm and windy day, today has been a bit more calm with winds only gusting to 36 miles per hour so far. This is significantly lighter than yesterday's peak gust of 60 miles per hour. Since midnight, wind speeds have dropped,  and shifted direction to the west north west. This wind is bringing  cooler air into the area, and the temperature has continued to drop  as the day progresses. The high temperature for today was observed  at midnight at about 54F. This is 17 degrees above our normal high  temperature of 37F. Between 11 A.M. and noon, the temperature  dropped over 8 degrees from about 51 F to about 43F. This corresponds  with a rapid shift in wind speed and direction from about 16 miles per  hour from the SSW to about 34 miles per hour from the WNW just past the elevon o'clock hour. Since then, the observed wind speed has dropped  back to about 20 miles per hour, and is  persisting from the WNW. Passing  rain showers have been making appearances from the late morning through  the early afternoon. Visibility was obstructed throughout the day  with distant haze and fog being present, but during the 12 P.M. hour,  the fog lifted, leaving for some nice visibility at the 1 o'clock observation, of 80 miles with Mount Monadnock being clearly visible.   Houghton's Pond and Ponkepaug Pond have both thawed overnight last night. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Fog, overcast stratus Temperature: 50F; Dew Point: 50F; Wind: SSW at 16G22 kts     Sea-level pressure: 29.24 ins. Hg, falling then rising        Visibility: 10 miles  6-hr Max temp: 54F 6-hr Min temp: 50F 24-hr Precip: 1.02 ins. 24-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins. Snow depth: 0 ins.    BHO SA 1155 E13 OVC 10F 903/50/50/2016G22/924/ FOG 8/6// 55001  70102 10054 20050 10 A.M. Weather: Distant fog in all directions, overcast stratus  Temperature: 51F; Dew Point: 48F; Wind: SSW at 16 kts    Sea-level pressure: 29.27 ins. Hg, rising then steady Visibility: 15 miles 3-hr Precip: 0.00 ins.  BHO SA 1455 E16 OVC 15 912/51/48/2016/927/ DSNT FOG ALQDS  8/6// 50009 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratus, few cumulus in all directions Temperature: 41F; Dew Point: 33F; Wind: E at 13 kts   Sea-level pressure: 29.31 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly      Visibility: 80 miles 6-hr Max temp: 52F 6-hr Min temp: 41F 6-hr Precip: 0.02 ins. 6-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins. Snow depth: 0 ins.    BHO SA 1755 E36 BKN 80 924/41/33/1013/931/ FEW CU ALQDS 8/600  6002/ 53012 10052 20041  SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2018  TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....62   NORMAL.....37 MIN.....43   NORMAL.....22 MEAN....53   NORMAL.....30 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+23 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.......................+3 [-0.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............12   DEPARTURE........-23 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............668   DEPARTURE.........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........1988   DEPARTURE........+53 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......1645   DIFFERENCE......+343 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY....................60 SSE AT 3:35  P.M.                    AERO.........................62 SSE AT 3:35  P.M.                     ASOS.........................61 S   AT 12:50 P.M.                     DAVIS........................62 S   AT 10:00 A.M. RMY 63 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY......................44 S   AT 3:30  P.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...................43 SSE AT 3:33  P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..................44 S   AT 3:33  P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..............24.3 SSE                    ASOS.......................22.5                    DAVIS......................23.4 SSE [166 deg.]    PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....1.02  DEPARTURE.......+0.86                          ASOS..............0.93 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.10  DEPARTURE.......-1.16                          ASOS..............3.74 * TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........66.47  DEPARTURE......+14.74                          ASOS.............69.37 * * ASOS MONTHLY AND ANNUAL PRECIPITATION IS SUSPECT SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE........-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.1  DEPARTURE........-8.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON...............7.7  DEPARTURE........-3.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 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 12/01 41/28/35/-2/0.00/0.0/391/70          20 NNW AERO 18 NNW RMY N/A 12/02 52/35/44/+8/1.04/0.0/000/00          28 ESE AERO 25 ESE RMY 27 12/03 54/38/46/+10/0.00/0.0/178/32         35 W   AERO 35 W   RMY 38  12/04 38/23/31/-4/0.00/0.0/516/93          30 WNW AERO 31 WNW RMY 33 12/05 33/18/26/-9/0.00/0.0/432/78          16 NNW AERO 15 NNW RMY N/A 12/06 37/24/31/-4/0.00/0.0/354/64          29 W   AERO 28 W   RMY 30 12/07 37/21/29/-5/0.00/0.0/.../..          29 NW  AERO 29 NW  RMY 32 12/08 27/15/21/-13/0.00/0.0/.../..         28 NW  AERO 27 NW  RMY 29 12/09 34/17/26/-8/0.00/0.0/.../..          23 SSW AERO 21 SSW RMY 22 12/10 36/22/29/-4/0.00/0.0/.../..          24 NNW AERO 23 NNW RMY 22 12/11 36/17/27/-6/0.00/0.0/.../..          16 WSW AERO 14 WSW RMY N/A 12/12 35/18/27/-6/0.00/0.0/.../..          30 NW  AERO 29 NW  RMY M 12/13 31/16/24/-8/0.00/0.0/.../..          16 NNE AERO 12 SE  RMY N/A 12/14 46/28/37/+5/0.00/0.0/.../..          28 SSW AERO 28 SSW RMY 29 12/15 49/33/43/+11/0.04/0.0/.../..         28 NE  AERO 27 NE  RMY 30 12/16 40/37/39/+8/..../0.0/.../..          38 NE  AERO 38 NE  RMY 40 12/17 37/32/35/+4/..../0.0/.../..          39 NNE AERO 37 NNE RMY N/A 12/18 34/20/27/-4/0.02/0.1/.../..          48 NW  AERO 55 NW  RMY 48 12/19 38/17/28/-2/0.00/0.0/.../..          23 WNW AERO 23 WNW RMY N/A 12/20 47/30/39/9/0.00/0.0/.../..           23 SW  AERO 22 SW  RMY N/A 12/21 62/43/53/+23/..../0.0/.../..         60 SSE AERO 62 SSE RMY 63 12/22 Low temp since midnight is 49F; normal low is 22F DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 22 HIGH 63 IN 2013 LOW -5 IN 1921 PRECIP 1.52 INS. IN 1975 SNOWFALL 8.8 INS. IN 1975 PEAK GUST 62 MPH WNW IN 1998 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 23 HIGH 62 IN 1990 LOW -1 IN 1989 PRECIP 1.70 INS. IN 1947 SNOWFALL 11.9 INS. IN 1947 PEAK GUST 67 SSE IN 2004 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Samantha Richard