BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2001 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http:// www.bluehill.org DAILY DISCUSSION... HOUGHTON'S POND FREEZES OVER FOR FIRST TIME THIS SEASON DECEMBER CLOSE TO BEING WARMEST ON RECORD....Houghton's Pond froze officially on Friday, 12/28, which is the 4th latest freeze on record for that pond. Later dates are 1/4/1974, 1/2/1924, and 12/31/1996. Ponkapoag froze earlier this week on 12/23, which was the 5th latest date for that pond. Although temperatures for the rest of the month will be close to normal, the December average may still be high enough to be the WARMEST ON RECORD. The list of warmest Decembers includes: 1891 37.2 1998 36.9 1990 36.7 1953 36.6 The year, 2001, also turned out very warm and will rank about 6th or 7th warmest on record. MINIMUM temperature for December so far is only 19 degrees on the 27th and 28th. This may be the HIGHEST ON RECORD, since it is higher than the current record warmest minimum temp for December of 15 set in 1907 and 1913. MJI BLUE HILL OBSERVATIONS Look for the hourly observations from the Blue Hill ASOS on the Internet. Our station code is KMQE. One good site is run by the NWS: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KMQE.html The main page for this site is: http://weather.noaa.gov/index.html Today's observations: 7 AM BHO SA 1155 200 SCT 250 -SCT 30 062/24/13/2412/971/ FEW AC SE-SW/ 8/031 53014 10028 20023 10 AM BHO SA 1455 220 SCT 250 -BKN 55 069/27/11/2409/973/ FEW AC DSNT N FEW SC DSNT SSE-S THN K LYR ALNG HRZN W-NE/ 8/531 50007 1 PM BHO SA 1755 60 SCT E80 OVC 45 052/33/13/2415G22/968/ BINOVC OVHD-NW FEW SC S AND W-NE SUN OCNLY DMLY VSBL/ 8/57/ 58017 10033 20023 WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28: PEAK WIND GUST FOR FRIDAY...........33 MPH SW AT 2:11 PM AEROVANE.........30 MPH SW AT 2:11 PM ASOS.............29 MPH SW AT 2:11 PM AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR........14.3 MPH SW ASOS...........14.7 MPH WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29: PEAK WIND GUST THROUGH 1 PM..........33 MPH SW AT 11:38 AM AEROVANE..........31 MPH SW AT 11:38 AM ASOS..............31 MPH SW AT 11:38 AM TEMPERATURES AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28 MAX.....34 NORMAL.....34 ASOS.....34 AT 3:44 PM MIN.....19 NORMAL.....19 ASOS.....19 AT 7:18 AM MEAN....27 NORMAL.....27 DEP.....0 DEP FOR MONTH....+234 The month is averaging more than 8 degrees above normal per day. HEATING DEGREE DAYS AT BLUE HILL: HEATING UNITS FOR FRIDAY...............38 DEP........0 HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........733 DEP.....-234 HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........1716 DEP.....-483 HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON............2368 DIFF....-652 PRECIPITATION DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM....0.00 IN DEP....-0.14 IN ASOS.............0.00 IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH.........3.56 INS DEP....-0.73 IN ASOS.............3.31 INS TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR.........45.53 INS DEP....-2.89 INS ASOS............42.17 INS SNOWFALL DATA AT BLUE HILL TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM.......0.0 IN DEP....-0.4 IN TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...........10.1 INS DEP....-1.3 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..........10.1 INS DEP....-3.7 INS RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 29 HIGH 72 IN 1984 LOW -19 IN 1933 PRE 1.91 INS IN 1945 SNOW 18.4 INS IN 1945 WIND 95 MPH S IN 1966 (RECORD FOR DECEMBER SINCE 1940) RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 30 HIGH 60 IN 1984 LOW -18 IN 1933 PRE 1.48 INS IN 1891 SNOW 7.5 INS IN 1956 WIND 81 MPH WNW IN 1962 Daily wind records are for the period 1940-2000. Temperature and precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2000. Mike Iacono