BLUE HILL OBSERVATORY MILTON MASSACHUSETTS THURSDAY JANUARY 04 2001 THE MONTH OF DECEMBER AT BLUE HILL... THIRD SUNNIEST DECEMBER ON RECORD... COLDEST DECEMBER SINCE 1995--OUR MEAN TEMP. OF 26.5 (CORR TO 24 HOURS) AVERAGED 3 DEGREES COLDER THAN RECORD MEAN (ENTIRE RECORD) WIND GUST TO 83 MPH SSE ON THE 17TH... December 2000 had 62% of the possible bright sunshine ranking third sunniest on the 116-year record. In 1960, December had 67% of the possible sunshine (the all-time record) and in 1989 there was 63%. Four days were perfectly sunny with 100%. Nine days had between 96 and 100% sunshine. Normal sunshine for December is 46%. Our mean temperature of 26.5 degrees (corr. to 24 hours) was 3 degrees colder than the long term normal and much colder than recent Decembers. In 1998 the mean was 36.9 degrees and last year 34.5 degrees. The mean for the month using midnight to midnight maximum and minimum data was 26.2 degrees and was 3.9 degrees below the 30-year normal on that record. A record high temperature of 63 degrees on the 17th was the only temperature record set during the month. Heating degree day units totaled 1195 or 113 above the average. The seasonal degree day total reached 2487 and was 173 more than normal and a whopping 491 more than last season through the end of December. Precipitation added up to 5.20 inches or a half inch over the average. Snowfall of 9.5 inches was about one inch below normal. Only one snowstorm was significant and that occurred on the 30th with 4.0 inches before it changed to rain. Winds gusted to hurricane force on December 12th with a peak of 74 MPH from the west. On the 17th an official gust of 78 MPH SSE was recorded by ASOS while 83 MPH SSE was recorded on the Aerovane recorder. DECEMBER 2000 STATS.... Mean 26.2 [ - 3.9] HDD: 1195 [ + 113 ] Precip: 5.20 ins. [ +0.49 ] Snowfall: 9.5 ins [ - 1.3 ] DECEMBER 2000 AT A GLANCE.... MAX / MIN / MEAN / DEP / PRCP / SNW / SUN & % / GUST MPH 12/1../ 39 / 24 / 32 / -3 / 0 / 0 / 480 86% / 29 NW 12/2../ 29 / 18 / 24 / -11 / 0 / 0 / 557 100% / 29 NW 12/3../ 32 / 14 / 23 / -11 / 0 / 0 / 550 99% / 21 WNW 12/4../ 44 / 22 / 33 / - 1 / 0 / 0 / 544 98% / 21 WNW 12/5../ 47 / 28 / 38 / + 4 / T / T / 404 73% / 41 WNW 12/6../ 29 / 19 / 24 / - 9 / 0 / 0 / 530 96% / 46 W 12/7../ 31 / 18 / 25 / - 8 / 0 / 0 / 253 46% / 36 W 12/8../ 18 / 15 / 17 / -15 / 0.06 / 1.3 / 0 0% 22 W 12/9../ 27 / 12/ 20 / -12 / 0 / 0 / 512 / 93% / 31 NW 12/10./ 33 / 16 / 25 / - 7 / 0.02 / 0.1 / 478 87% / 23 SSE 12/11./ 40 / 31 / 36 / + 5 / 0.05 / T / 0 0% / 16 E 12/12./ 52 / 20 / 36 / + 5 / 0.04 / 0 / 312 57% / 74 W 12/13./ 27 / 13 / 20 / -11 / 0 / 0 / 465 85% / 25 WNW 12/14./ 39 / 24 / 32 / + 2 / 0.75 / 0.9 / 000 / 00 / 30 W 12/15./ 32 / 20 / 26 / - 4 / 0 / 0 / 496 91%/ 31 WNW 12/16./ 45 / 27 / 36 / + 6 / 0.11 / 0 / 0 / 0% / 32 ESE 12/17./ 63 / 35 / 49 / +20 / 2.87 / T / 0 0% / 78 SSE 12/18./ 36 / 25 / 31 / + 2 / 0 / 0 / 540 99% / 53 W 12/19./ 38 / 23 / 31 / + 2 / 0.26 / 0 / 300 55% / 27 NNE 12/20./ 31 / 19 / 25 / - 4 / 0.29 / 1.2 / 326 60% / 40 W 12/21./ 31 / 16 / 24 / - 4 / 0 / 0 / 365 67%/ 20 SW 12/22./ 28 / 20 / 24 / - 4 0.04 / 1.5 / 000 / 00% / 32 WNW 12/23./ 27 / 11 / 19 / - 9 0 / 0 / 545 /100% / 33 NW 12/24./ 31 / 15 / 23 / - 5 / 0 / 0 / 289 53%/ 24 W 12/25./ 23 / 6 / 15 / -12 / 0 / 0 / 545 100%/ 44 NW 12/26./ 24 / 3 / 14 / -13 / 0 / 0 / 546 / 100% / 48 WNW 12/27./ 31 / 17 / 24 -3 / 0 / 0 / 426 / 78% / 39 WNW 12/28./ 21 / 14 / 18 / -9 / T / T / 246 / 45% / 35 NW 12/29./ 32 / 13 / 23 / -4 / 0 / 0 / 531 / 97% / 24 NW 12/30./ 37 / 19 / 28 / +1 /0.69 / 4.0 / 000 / 00% / 51 ENE 12/31./ 29 / 20 / 25 / -1 /0.02 / 0.5 / 368 / 67% / 42 W SUMMARY OF JANUARY 2001 TO DATE.... A COLD AND SUNNY START TO THE NEW MONTH.... Sunshine: 1/1 100% 1/2 89% 1/3 93% Temps: 1/1 31/18/25/-1 1/2 26/13/20/-6 1/3 31/12/22/-4 The total temp. departure is -11 degrees thru 3 days... There has been no precipitation or snowfall... Three inches of old snow remains on the ground The peak wind gust for the month through the first three days is 32 MPH NW as recorded by Aerovane at 6:55 P.M. on January 2. MANUAL OBS FOR JANUARY 2001 TO DATE... 1/1/2001 MONDAY NEW YEARS DAY BHO SA 1155 CLR 60 129/18/11/2915/991/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-S FEW CI DSNT N-NE/ 8/501/ 4/003 51024 10019 20018 BHO SA 1455 CLR 80 160/24/12/2811G21/000/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-E FEW CI DSNT SSE-S/ 8/501/ 53029 1/2/2001 TUE BHO SA 1155 E20 BKN 20 213/14/11/3314/016/ CLRG W-N THN K LYR ALG HRZN NE-SE VSBY SE-S 35 W 20 FROST/ 8/500/ 4/003 53008 10017 20014 BHO SA 1455 CLR 50 221/19/11/3212/018/ SC LYR NE-SE FEW SC DSNT W-NW CI DSNT SE-SSW/ 8/501/ 51008 BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 201/24/13/3108/012/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT NE-E FEW CI DSNT S WND 29V35/ 56020 10024 20014 1/3/2001 BHO SA 1155 75 SCT 300 -SCT 35 207/15/10/3111/014/ SC OFFSHR NE-SE FEW CC FROST/ 8/509/ 4/003 53001 10015 20012 BHO SA 1455 300 -BKN 50 218/24/14/3108/017/ SC OFFSHR NE-SE FEW AC ALQDS FEW LWR CI AND CC WND 26V33/ 8/539/ 53011 BHO SA 1755 50 SCT 250 -SCT 300 -OVC 50 195/28/15/3008/011/ FEW CU/ 8/107/ 56023 10029 20015 1/4/2001 THU BHO SA 1155 E60 OVC 15 127/19/13/2411/991/ BINOVC ENE-SSE HAZY ALQDS VSBY SE 20/ 8/5/// 4/003 53000 10022 20019 BHO SA 1455 65 SCT E95 OVC 20 128/24/14/2507/991/ BINOVC SE AND W-NW HAZY ALQDS/ 8/57// 53001 BHO SA 1755 250 SCT 25 107/29/14/2512/985/ FEW AC/ACSL W-N CI/CS LYR E-S HAZY/ 8/047/ 56021 10029 20019 Robert Skilling