BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2018 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME RECORD BREAKING BLIZZARD HITS GREAT BLUE HILL... The snow began falling this morning around 6:40 A.M. and quickly began to accumulate. The snow continued throughout the day and was heavy a times. So far today we have received record breaking daily amount snow of 14 ins by 4:00 P.M. EST. The previous record of 8.6 ins was set in 1923 then tied in 1941. Another besides the large snowfall amounts another significant part of this storm was the dramatic pressure drop we have experienced over the past 24 hours. This has caused high winds that were sustained between 20 and 30 MPH at times. So far today we had a peak gust of 47 kts (54 MPH). The high winds caused blowing snow which reduced visibility to 1/4 by 1:00 PM. EST. making for blizzard conditions this afternoon on top of Great Blue Hill. PRELIMINARY STATS FOR DECEMBER 2017 TEMPERATURE, Deg. F Avg. Max. 33.9 [-5.2] Avg. Min. 21.2 [-2.4] Mean 27.6 [-3.7] Corrected mean: 27.2 Max. for month: 58 on the 5TH Min. for month: -3 on the 29TH HEATING DEGREE DAYS Total heating units: 1153 [+110] Total for the season: 2122 [-183] Total for last season: 2032 PRECIPITATION, Inches Total: 2.98 [-1.91] SNOWFALL, Inches Total: 9.4 [-4.0] WIND, mph Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 11.6 Avg. corrected wind speed: 12.0 Prevailing wind direction: W @ 23% Peak gust and direction: 62 S on the 5th SUNSHINE: Astronomical total minutes: N/A Campbell-Stokes card minutes: N/A Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Fog and light snow, overcast nimbostratus Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: N at 16G24 kts, Peak wind: 27 kts (31 MPH) N at 6:18 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.65 ins. Hg, falling rapidly Visibility: 2 miles distant fog S-NNE 6-hr Max temp: 25F 6-hr Min temp: 22F 24-hr precip: Trace 24-hr snowfall: Trace Snow depth: 2 ins. BHO SA 1155 E20 OVC 2S-F 039/25/20/3516G24/965/ NEW SNW PST 24 HRS TRACE S-B40 VRY LGT S- CTD PK WND 3527/18 PRESFR/ 8/02/ 58074 10025 20022 10 A.M. Weather: Fog and snow Temperature: 24F; Dew Point: 22F; Wind: NNW at 19G32 kts, Peak wind: 32 kts ( 37 MPH) NNW at 10:53 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.42 ins. Hg, falling rapidly Visibility: 1/2 mile 3-hr precip: 0.18 ins. BHO SA 1455 W3 X 1/2SF 963/24/22/3419G32/942/ NEW SNW PST 3 HRS 1.5 INS S- BCMG S UNK PK WND 3432/53 PRESFR/ 8//// 56076 MANUAL 6018/ ASOS 60018 1 P.M. Weather: Heavy snow and fog Temperature: 26F; Dew Point: 25F; Wind: NNW at 20G30 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.08 ins. Hg, falling rapidly Visibility: 1/4 mile 6-hr Max temp: 27F 6-hr Min temp: 23F 6-hr precip: 1.11 ins. 6-hr snowfall: 8.5 ins. Snow depth: 10 ins. BHO SA 1755 W3 X 1/4S+F 848/26/25/3420G30/908/ NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 8.5 INS S BCMG S+ UNK PK WND 3432/53 PRESFR/ 8//// 56115 4/010 MANUAL 6111/ 60119 10027 20023 SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2018 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....28 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....11 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....20 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........................-6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........................-50 [-16.9 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............45 DEPARTURE..........+6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............165 DEPARTURE.........+50 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........2287 DEPARTURE........-133 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....2118 DIFFERENCE.......+169 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................23 WSW AT 5:16 A.M. AERO........................20 W AT 12:18 A.M. ASOS........................22 W AT 5:18 A.M. DAVIS.......................22 W AT 5:17 A.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................16 WSW AT 4:00 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................16 S AT 7:35 P.M MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................16 W AT 4:00 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............10.6 S ASOS......................10.9 DAVIS.....................10.3 SW [227 DEG.] 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..........0.00 DEPARTURE......-0.44 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.00 DEPARTURE......-0.44 ASOS..............0.00 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.......-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................0.0 DEPARTURE.......-1.7 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON...............9.4 DEPARTURE.......-8.3 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 50/35/43/+6/0.04/0.0/262/47 28 NW AERO 29 NW RMY 30 12/02 42/29/36/0/0.00/0.0/033/06 20 NNW AERO 18 NNW RMY N/A 12/03 42/32/37/+1/0.00/0.0/172/31 14 N AERO 10 N RMY N/A 12/04 43/32/38/+3/0.00/0.0/522/94 16 E AERO 14 E RMY N/A 12/05 58/34/46/+11/0.18/0.0/000/00 62 S AERO 66 S RMY 65 12/06 56/32/44/+9/0.54/0.0/160/29 52 S AERO 55 S RMY N/A 12/07 44/30/37/+3/0.00/0.0/540/98 25 WSW AERO 24 WSW RMY 25 12/08 38/28/33/-1/0.00/0.0/116/21 21 W AERO 18 W RMY 20 12/09 34/28/31/-3./0.70/5.5/000/00 23 NNW AERO 23 NNW RMY 23 12/10 35/27/31/-2/0.02/0.1/384/70 30 W AERO 30 W RMY 27 12/11 38/29/34/+1/T/T/301/55 23 W AERO 21 W RMY 22 12/12 43/31/37/+4/0.06/0.0/000/00 35 W AERO 31 W RMY N/A 12/13 31/18/25/-7/0.00/0.0/372/68 44 W AERO 44 W RMY 44 12/14 27/14/21/-11/T/T/257/47 35 WSW AERO 33 W RMY 34 12/15 24/12/18/-14/0.00/0.0/011/02 25 W AERO 23 W RMY N/A 12/16 32/17/25/-6/0.00/0.0/382/70 33 W AERO 35 W RMY 36 12/17 27/14/21/-10/0.00/0.0/425/78 21 NW AERO 21 NW RMY 20 12/18 35/20/28/-3/T/T/011/02 20 SSE AERO 16 SSE RMY 20 12/19 49/34/42/+12/0.00/0.0/185/34 36 WNW AERO 35 SW RMY 38 12/20 42/26/34/+4/T/T/447/82 41 W AERO 40 W RMY 45 12/21 32/23/28/-2/0.00/0.0/533/98 26 NW AERO 24 NW RMY 27 12/22 32/21/27/-2/..../.../000/00 18 E AERO 17 E RMY N/A 12/23 36/24/30/+1/..../.../000/00 31 WSW AERO 28 WSW RMY 31 12/24 35/29/32/+3/..../.../191/35 30 ENE AERO 25 ENE RMY N/A 12/25 35/21/28/0/..../.../098/18 50 W AERO 54 W RMY 47 12/26 24/13/19/-9/0.00/0.0/529/97 39 W AERO 39 W RMY 41 12/27 19/6/13/-15/0.00/0.0/530/97 28 WNW AERO 25 WNW RMY N/A 12/28 10/1/6/-22/0.00/0.0/..../.. 37 WNW AERO 44 WNW RMY 43 12/29 13/-3/5/-22/0.00/0.0/.../.. 25 W AERO 25 W RMY 27 12/30 14/1/8/-19/0.03/0.5/.../.. 21 W AERO 18 W RMY 24 12/31 10/0/5/-22/0.00/0.0/.../.. 32 WNW AERO 32 WNW RMY 35 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 1/1 11/-5/3/-24/0.00/0.0/.../.. 30 NW AERO 30 NW RMY 31 1/2 15/-2/7/-20/0.00/0.0/.../.. 26 W AERO 25 W RMY 26 1/3 28/11/20/-6/0.00/0.0/.../.. 23 WSW AERO 20 WSW RMY N/A 1/4 Low temp since midnight is 22F; normal low is now 18F DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 4 HIGH 60F IN 2000 LOW -8F IN 1904, 1981 PRECIP 1.79 INS. IN 1982 SNOW 8.6 INS. 1923, 1941 PEAK GUST 84 MPH S IN 1982 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 5 HIGH 61F IN 2007 LOW -9F IN 1981 PRECIP 0.98 INS. IN 1993 SNOW 4.5 INS. IN 1891 PEAK GUST 70 MPH WNW IN 1959 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Kaitlin Geagan