BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2001 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http:// www.bluehill.org THE DAILY HIGHLIGHTS.... LIGHT SNOW AND SLEET IN EASTERN NEW ENGLAND THIS MORNING.... with significant snowfall expected throughout the area tonight. New snow in the past 24 hours at Blue Hill amounted to 0.3 inch through 7 AM, and the liquid precipitation total was 0.50 inch, much of which fell as rain on Friday. An additional 0.7 in of snow has fallen this morning since 7 AM. Snowfall has mostly shut down early this afternoon, with an area of precipitation moving offshore. A new storm forming near the mid-Atlantic area that will combine with an upper level circulation moving eastward toward the coast will bring a significant snowfall to southern New England later today and early tomorrow. Note: Blue Hill's daily snowfall record for January 21st is a very low 5.8 inches (in 1946). - MJI TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF A LARGE SNOWSTORM THAT OCCURRED ON THIS DATE IN 1978....Blue Hill had a storm total of 19.0 inches of snow, 1.95 inches of precipitation and an estimated peak gust of 76 mph NE. This was one of several large storms that preceded the Blizzard of 1978. NEXT MEETING OF THE BLUE HILL OBSERVATORY... None scheduled. 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 E20 BKN 50 OVC 8 175/29/26/3410/005/ PTCHY GF ALQDS TOTAL NEW SNOW PST 24 HRS 0.3 IN/ 8/6// 4/008 53024 6000/ 70050 10032 20029 10 AM BHO SA 1455 -X E6 OVC 3/4S-F 185/28/27/3511/008/ SF3 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 3 HRS 0.5 IN/ 8/6// 51010 1 PM BHO SA 1755 7 SCT E30 OVC 20S- 168/28/22/0413G19/003/ PCPN VRY LGT PRESFR VSBY NW-N 30 SE-S 12 WND 01V07 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 0.7 IN/ 8/5// 4/009 58017 6007/ 10029 20027 WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 19: PEAK WIND GUST FOR FRIDAY...............20 MPH N AT 3:23 PM AEROVANE.........20 MPH N AT 3:23 PM ASOS..................18 MPH N AT 3:22 PM AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR..........9.3 MPH, SE ASOS................9.0 MPH WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR SATURDAY, JANUARY 20: PEAK WIND GUST THROUGH 1 PM........23 MPH NNW AT 1:30 AM AEROVANE.......26 MPH NNW AT 1:30 AM ASOS................23 MPH NNW AT 1:55 AM TEMPERATURES AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 19: MAX.....35 NORMAL.....33 ASOS..... 35 AT 1:20 PM MIN.....27 NORMAL.....17 ASOS.....27 AT 12:12 AM MEAN.....31 NORMAL.....25 DEP.....+6 DEP FOR MONTH.....+23 January is averaging about 1 degree above normal per day. HEATING DEGREE DAYS AT BLUE HILL: HEATING UNITS FOR FRIDAY...................34 DEP.........-6 HEATING UNITS FOR DECEMBER...........728 DEP........-23 HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.......3215 DEP.....+150 HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON.............2669 DIFF.....+546 PRECIPITATION DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM.........0.50 IN DEP.....+0.37 IN ASOS.............0.49 IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH................1.68 INS DEP.....-0.82 IN ASOS.............1.73 INS TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..................1.68 INS DEP.....-0.82 IN ASOS..............1.73 INS SNOWFALL DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL SNOWFALL THROUGH 7AM............0.3 IN DEP......-0.2 IN TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH.......10.6 INS DEP.....+1.1 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.....20.7 INS DEP......-2.6 INS RECORDS FOR JANUARY 20 HIGH 59 IN 1951 LOW -9 IN 1901 PRE 1.95 INS IN 1978 SNOW 19.0 INS IN 1978 WIND 76 MPH NE IN 1978 (ESTIMATED) RECORDS FOR JANUARY 21 HIGH 65 IN 1906 LOW -4 IN 1888, 1893 PRE 2.49 INS IN 1979 SNOW 5.8 INS IN 1946 WIND 78 MPH SE IN 1979 (ESTIMATED) Daily wind records are for the period 1940-2000. Temperature and precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2000. Mike Iacono