BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018   ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME WINDS SHIFT AND TEMPERATURES RETURN TO SEASONABLE AFTER RECORD BREAKING WARMTH...EARLIEST TEMPERATURE OF 70F OR MORE...NEW FEBRUARY RECORD FOR DAILY HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 50F... Temperatures are returning to more seasonable after two of the warmest February days on record. We set  two records yesterday, one for high maximum and the other for high minimum. Our high minimum of 50F is the warmest high minimum for February on record, surpassing the previous record of 49F in 1981. We also set the record for high maximum temperature of 70F. This is the second warmest maximum temperature in February on record, and the mean on Friday of 60F is the warmest ever observed in February. 70F is 32 degrees above the daily normal of 38F and the mean of 60F is 31 degrees above normal for the date. Temperatures began to drop overnight after  winds shifted from the SSW-NNW. During the day  today they have shifted again from NNW-NE. This  caused temperatures to drop by 30 degrees since  yesterday afternoon. Temperatures have continued to  drop throughout the day with a high of 53F at  midnight and a low of 37F by 1:00 P.M. Skies remained overcast altostratus today but we  still had excellent visibility, especially in the morning. This was due to the low dew points and  relative humidity we observed today. We could  see 80 miles in the morning, but the relative  humidity rose in the afternoon bringing haze to  the region and limited visibility to 60 miles. We have had a few fast moving rain showers pass by the Observatory today. Ice pellets were  observed for a short period around 11:20 A.M.  BHO Warmest February Daily Maximum Temperature, deg F (1885-2018): 1) 71 on 24 Feb 2017 2) 70 on 21 Feb 2018 3) 68 on 24 Feb 1985    68 on 25 Feb 2017    68 on 20 Feb 2018 6) 67 on 26 Feb 1957    67 on 25 Feb 1976    67 on 23 Feb 2017 9) 66 on 20 Feb 1930    66 on 19 Feb 1981 BHO Warmest February Daily High Minimum Temperature, deg F (1885-2018): 1) 50 on 21 Feb 2018 2) 49 on 20 Feb 1981 3) 48 on 20 Feb 2018 4) 47 on 28 Feb 1910    47 on 23 Feb 1990    47 on 24 Feb 2017 7) 46 on 26 Feb 1957 8) 45 on 22 Feb 1954    45 on 05 Feb 1991    45 on 21 Feb 2002 Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus  Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 21F; Wind: N at 7 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.61 ins. Hg, rising unsteadily         Visibility:  80 miles 6-hr Max temp: 51F 6-hr Min temp: 40F 24-hr precip:  0.00 ins. 24-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins. Snow depth: 0 ins. BHO SA 1155 E70 OVC 80 367/40/21/3507/061/ 8/02/ 52032  10051 20040 10 A.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus, few stratocumulus in all directions    Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: ENE at 13G20 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.64 ins. Hg, rising then, more rapidly Visibility: 80 miles 3-hr precip: 0.00 3-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins.   BHO SA 1455 E75 OVC 80 375/39/24/0613G20/064/  FEW SC ALQDS/ 8/52/ 51008       1 P.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus, few stratocumulus in all directions Temperature: 37F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: ENE at 10 kts  Sea-level pressure: 30.63 ins. Hg, rising then falling    Visibility: 60 miles    6-hr Max temp: 40F 6-hr Min temp: 37F 6-hr precip: Trace 6-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins. Snow depth: 0 ins. BHO SA 1755 E70 OVC 60 372/37/24/0610/063/ FEW SC ALQDS  DSNT HZ ALQDS/ 8/52/ 58003 MANUAL 600// 10040 20037               SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....70   NORMAL.....38 MIN.....50   NORMAL.....20 MEAN....60   NORMAL.....29 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........................+31 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........................+157 [+7.3 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............5   DEPARTURE.........-31 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............634   DEPARTURE........-159 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........3955   DEPARTURE........-368 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....3758   DIFFERENCE.......+197 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................32 SW AT 9:06 A.M.                     AERO........................30 SW AT 9:05 A.M.                    ASOS........................33 SW AT 9:03 A.M.                    DAVIS.......................32 M  AT 9:06 A.M.** RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................25 SW AT 9:05 A.M.    MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................25 SW AT 9:09 A.M.   MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................23 M  AT 9:08 A.M.** AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............16.4 SSW                     ASOS......................16.7                     DAVIS.....................15.2 **  ** Davis direction malfunctioning 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..........3.25  DEPARTURE......+0.29                          ASOS..............3.40   TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........9.25  DEPARTURE......+1.94                          ASOS..............9.98 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE........-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................9.4  DEPARTURE........-1.0 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............43.9  DEPARTURE........+0.3 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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 2/1  45/27/36/+10/..../0.0/120/20      36 SSW AERO 35 SSW RMY N/A  2/2  34/08/21/-5/..../2.5/223/37       43 WNW AERO 46 WNW RMY 46  2/3  25/04/15/-11/0.00/0.0/557/92      26 S   AERO 24 S   RMY 30  2/4  45/23/34/+8/.../T/000/00          31 SSE AERO 29 S   RMY 30 2/5  46/19/33/+7/0.00/0.0/464/76       47 WNW AERO 47 WNW RMY 44 2/6  31/17/24/+2/T/T/025/04            26 SSW AERO 23 SSW RMY 23  2/7  42/21/32/+5/0.62/1.1/000/00       45 SW  AERO 46 SW  RMY 47 2/8  30/20/25/-2/0.00/0.0/501/81       38 WNW AERO 38 WNW RMY N/A 2/9  30/16/23/-4/0.00/0.0/384/62       28 S   AERO 25 S   RMY N/A 2/10 51/28/40/+13/..../0.0/.../..      31 S   AERO 30 S   RMY 31 2/11 46/36/41/+14/..../0.0/000/00      24 SW  AERO 21 SW  RMY N/A 2/12 53/27/40/+13/..../0.0/.../..      33 WNW AERO 33 WNW RMY N/A 2/13 31/21/26/-2/0.00/0.0/.../..       22 S   AERO 18 WNW RMY 21 2/14 46/25/36/+8/0.00/0.0/.../..       30 S   AERO 26 SSW RMY 29  2/15 47/35/41/+13/..../0.0/000/00      23 SSW AERO 20 SSW RMY N/A 2/16 50/31/41/+13/..../0.0/.../..      45 W   AERO 44 W   RMY 42 2/17 38/23/31/+3/..../.../.../..       33 SSW AERO 29 SSE RMY 33 2/18 42/29/35/+6/..../.../.../..       32 WNW AERO 29 WNW RMY 34  2/19 48/30/39/+10/..../0.0/.../..      39 SSW AERO 37 SSW RMY 40        2/20 68/48/58/+29/..../0.0/.../..      32 SSW AERO 30 SSW RMY N/A 2/21 70/50/60/+31/0.00/0.0/.../..      32 SW  AERO 30 SW  RMY 33  2/22 Low temp since midnight is 37F; normal low is now 29F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2018 2/20/18: NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 68F          PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 66F SET IN 1930 2/21/18: NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 70F          PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 62F SET IN 1930 2/21/18: NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 50F          PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 45F SET IN 2002  DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):       RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 22 HIGH 63F IN 1997 LOW -1F IN 1918 PRECIP 1.38 INCHES IN 1900 SNOWFALL 8.0 INCHES IN 1893 PEAK GUST 74 MPH S IN 1974 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 23 HIGH 67F IN 2017 LOW -8F IN 1907 PRECIP 1.48 INCHES IN 1967 SNOWFALL 10.6 INCHES IN 1967 PEAK GUST 73 MPH WNW IN 1974 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Kaitlin Geagan / Mike Iacono