BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 FRIDAY DECEMBER 27 2002 DISCUSSION TODAY AT 1 P.M. FINAL SNOWSTORM TOTAL 12/25-26 IS 11.0 INCHES AND 1.59 INCHES MELTED PEAK WIND GUST 66 MPH NE AT 6:00 P.M. ON CHRISTMAS AND SNOWFALL OF 8.5 INCHES BOTH SET RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 25TH... BAROMETER DROPS TO 28.98 INCHES...AT 8:18 P.M. I've made a slight adjustment to the snowfall total rounding the 10.7 inches reported earlier to 11.0 inches. A measurement made in the standard gage was quite representative of what fell but had settled just a bit after the observer brought the can inside before measuring it so 11.0 inches seems to compensate for some melting. The melted precipitation total of 1.59 inches in the standard gage is extremely close to the ASOS heated tipping bucket total of 1.61 inches probably since much of the snow was wet early in the storm and the heated gage does very well with that while possibly some snow sticking to the rim of the standard gage may have been a factor in reducing the catch there. Anyway, the two gages are so close to the same reading, so close such as we rarely observe here. The Christmas Day total snowfall was 8.5 inches as a best estimate ending at midnight and broke the old record for the date of 6.0 inches in 1902. Also, the melted precipitation total of 1.37 inches broke the old record for the date of 1.15 inches in 1886. The peak wind gust was 57 kts NE on our official 420C recording system and that calculates to 66 MPH NE and not 65 MPH that was reported yesterday. The peak gust on the backside of the storm was 58 MPH WNW at 7:45 a.m. on December 26th; and was 62 MPH WNW on Aerovane while ASOS came in at 54 MPH WNW. The lowest pressure was 28.98 inches as reported by ASOS at 8:18 P.M. on December 25th. TODAY'S OBSERVATIONS 12/27/2002 FRI 7 A.M. BHO SA 1155 CLR 60 194/19/13/3017G23/010/ FEW SC OFFSHR DSNT ENE-ESE/ 8/500/ 4/010 53017 10021 20019 10 A.M. BHO SA 1455 CLR 80 213/23/12/3115G20/016/ 51019 1 P.M. BHO SA 1755 CLR 80 197/30/10/3008/011/ CI DSNT S-W/ 8/001/ 56014 10030 20019 THE DATA RECORDED FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 26 TEMPERATURES ARE CALENDAR DAY MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAX: 31 MIN: 21 ASOS MAX: 31 ASOS MIN: 21 MEAN: 26 [ - 2 ] NORMAL HIGH/LOW/MEAN: 36/21/28/ TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR DECEMBER TO DATE: - 29 degrees DECEMBER AVERAGES 1.3 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL PER DAY PRECIPITATION FOR 12/27 UPDATED AS OF 7 A.M. 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.......0.00 INS. TOTAL FOR ASOS............0.00 INS. TOTAL FOR DECEMBER........6.76 INS.(STD GAUGE) ASOS DECEMBER TOTAL.......6.58 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....+2.95 INS.(STD GAUGE) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS.....0.00 INS. DECEMBER SNOWFALL.........21.5 INS. SEASONAL SNOWFALL........ 31.0 INS. PRECIP. TOTAL YEAR 2002...53.36 INS. DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.....+3.04 INS. WIND DATA FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 26 2002 PEAK GUST ASOS: 54 MPH WNW AT 7:45 A.M. PEAK GUST AERO: 62 MPH WNW AT 7:45 A.M. PEAK GUST 420C: 58 MPH WNW AT 7:45 A.M. DEC. 2002 PRELIMINARY DATA....ALL IS CALENDAR DAY DATA.... BELOW IS ORDER OF DATA REPORTED.... MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL /SUNSHINE/ OFFICIAL 420C WIND GUST Aero = Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM = thunderstorm day 12/1 35/21/28/-8/0/0/537/96/ 54 W Aerovane 53 MPH W 12/2 34/21/28/-8/000/00/006/01 29 SW 12/3 29/12/21/-14/0.08/1.2/547/98 44 NW Aerovane 50 MPH NW 12/4 28/11/20/-15/0/0/522/94 28 WNW 12/5 25/19/22/-13/0.28/3.7/000/00 22 NNW 12/6 28/21/25/- 9/0.11/1.7/000/00 22 NNW 12/7 37/20/29/-5/0/0/540/98 37 SSW 12/8 40/25/33/0/0/0/391/71/ 37 WNW Aerovane 41 MPH WNW 12/9 25/8/17/-16/0/0/545/99/ 35 NW Aerovane 39 MPH NW 12/10 37/17/27/-6/0/0/307/56/ 28 SW 12/11 40/25/33/+1/0.37/0/000/00 40 ENE Aerovane 41 MPH ENE lightning in cloud late evening 12/12 38/33/36/+4/0.87/T/000/00 44 NE Aerovane 46 MPH NE 12/13 44/32/38/+6/0.04/0/312/57 25 ENE 12/14 44/32/38/+7/1.94/0.2/000/00 53 ENE Aerovane 53 MPH ENE 12/15 43/34/39/+8/0/0/480/88 42 WNW Aerovane 45 MPH WNW 12/16 36/23/30/-1/0.41/3.7/000/00/ 31 N Aerovane 36 MPH N 12/17 25/17/21/-10/T/T/441/81/ 24 N 12/18 37/16/27/-3/0/0/.../../ 21 NW 12/19 42/25/34/4/0/0/.../../ 30 SW 12/20 59/37/48/18/1.07/0/.../../ 75 S ** Aerovane 79 MPH S 12/21 43/32/38/8/T/T/.../../ 40 WSW Aerovane 46 MPH WSW 12/22 48/31/40/+11/0/0/.../../ 32 SSW 12/23 42/32/37/+8/0/0/.../../ 12/24 37/29/33/+4/0/0/.../../ 12/25 36/25/31/+2/1.37/8.5/000/00/ 66 NE Aerovane 69 MPH NE 12/26 31/21/26/-2/0.22/2.5/414/76 58 WNW Aerovane 62 MPH WNW 12/27 morning low 19 deg. ** a new record peak gust for December 20th also new record snowfall 8.5 ins. for 12/25 and new record precip. for day of 1.37 inches. RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 27 HIGH 57 IN 1895,1949 LOW -4 IN 1903 PRECIP 2.43 INS. IN 1969 SNOWFALL 11.2 INS. IN 1947 PEAK GUST 53e W IN 1957,1976,1978 RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 28 HIGH 60 IN 1982 LOW -2 IN 1933 PRECIP 2.16 INS. IN 1967 SNOWFALL 9.5 INS. IN 1967 PEAK GUST 89 MPH SSE IN 1983 e = estimated today's report by: Robert Skilling Happy Holidays from our observers: Robert Skilling, Matt Douglas, Mike Iacono, Andrew Hoell