BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2002 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http:// www.bluehill.org DAILY DISCUSSION... HEAVY RAIN AND VERY STRONG WINDS ON FRIDAY... Strong winds and heavy rain at the summit Friday afternoon brought a storm total of 1.07" in the standard gage with the heaviest hours bringing about 0.25" per hour from 4-6 PM. There was perfect agreement with our weighing rain gage, which also had 1.07" for the storm. ASOS measured 1.11" with the high winds likely causing extra tips on this gage. The peak gust of 65 knots, 75 mph S at 3:48 PM, was observed by Matt Douglas. This is a new record wind gust for the date going back to 1940, breaking the previous gust of 70 mph WNW in 1943. This is also the strongest wind gust of the year surpassing 71 mph gusts on March 10th, May 3rd, and July 15th, and it is the highest since the wind gusted to 78 mph SSW during the significant rain storm on December 17th, 2000. The highest hourly speeds yesterday were 43 mph from 3-4 PM and 41 mph from 2-3 PM, and the fastest mile was 50 mph (corrected) S at 3:50 PM during a second strong gust observed at 63 knots. The high temperature of 59 on Friday was two degrees short of the record for the date of 61 set in 1957. Occasional passing low clouds have brought virga but no showers today, and winds continue to gust from 30-40 mph from the WSW. MJI Today's observations: 7 AM BHO SA 1155 CLR 30 011/32/25/2214/956/ AC SSW-W FEW CI SW-W/ 8/071 51024 70100 10036 20032 10 AM BHO SA 1455 250 SCT 35 025/39/27/2316G26/960/ AC DSNT WSW-NE FEW CU FRMNG NW-N PK WND 2328/1443/ 8/171 51014 1 PM BHO SA 1755 E55 BKN 75 OVC 40 011/41/22/2519G33/956/ BINOVC ALQDS ACSL S-N FEW CUFRA S-W VIRGA DSNT N-NE PK WND 2534/1736/ 8/54/ 56014 10042 20032 WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 PEAK WIND GUST FOR FRIDAY...........75 MPH S AT 3:48 PM AEROVANE.........79 MPH S AT 3:48 PM ASOS.............71 MPH S AT 3:51 PM AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR........24.3 MPH, S ASOS...........23.5 MPH WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21 PEAK WIND GUST THROUGH 1 PM..........39 MPH WSW AT 12:51 PM AEROVANE..........43 MPH WSW AT 12:36 PM ASOS..............38 MPH WSW AT 12:58 PM TEMPERATURES AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 MAX.....59 NORMAL.....37 ASOS.....59 AT 4:22 PM MIN.....37 NORMAL.....22 ASOS.....37 AT MIDNIGHT PM MEAN....48 NORMAL.....30 DEP......+18 DEP FOR MONTH....-60 The month is averaging about 3 degrees below normal per day. HEATING DEGREE DAY UNITS THROUGH FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 HEATING UNITS FOR FRIDAY............17 DEP....-18 HEATING UNITS FOR NOVEMBER.........706 DEP....+65 HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON......2012 DEP....+82 HEATING UNITS FOR LAST SEASON.....1443 DEP...+569 PRECIPITATION DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM....1.00 IN DEP....+0.85 IN ASOS.............1.04 IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH.........5.17 INS DEP....+2.25 INS ASOS.............4.97 INS TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR.........51.77 INS DEP....+2.34 INS ASOS............48.67 INS SNOWFALL DATA AT BLUE HILL... TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM......0.0 IN DEP....-0.3 IN TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..........10.5 INS DEP....+3.8 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.........20.0 INS DEP...+10.0 INS RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 21 HIGH 60 IN 1957 LOW -10 IN 1942 PRE 2.01 INS IN 1946 SNOW 11.4 INS 1954 WIND 77 MPH SSE IN 1957 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 22 HIGH 62 IN 1994 LOW -5 IN 1921 PRE 1.52 INS IN 1975 SNOW 8.8 INS IN 1975 WIND 62 MPH WNW IN 1998 Daily wind records are for the period 1940-2001. Temperature and precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2001. Mike Iacono