BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2002 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http:// www.bluehill.org DAILY DISCUSSION... DRY WEATHER CONTINUES INTO NEW YEAR....Temperatures have averaged near normal since Christmas, and the last measurable precipitation was on December 24. Snowfall for the season is now about 8 inches below normal. On Saturday afternoon clouds are advancing ahead of the snow/rain storm expected late on Sunday and early Monday. Among the visible clouds are beautiful bands of altocumulus lenticularis spread out below a deck of altostatus. The sunrise this morning was nice as well with the sun appearing very red as it emerged above some distant clouds. NEW CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS NOW IN USE AS OF JANUARY 1ST.... For the next decade the 30-year normal for temperature and precipitation will be for the period 1971-2000. A comparison of the 1961-1990 and 1971-2000 normals will soon be available at our web site. 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 250 -BKN 20 154/28/14/2510/999/ AC DSNT ESE-N/ 8/071 53010 10030 20028 10 AM BHO SA 1455 200 SCT 250 -OVC 20 168/34/16/2708/003 FEW AC DSNT SW-N WND LGT/ 8/071 51014 1 PM BHO SA 1755 90 SCT E120 BKN 200 OVC 25 151/36/19/2712/998/ BINOVC S THN SPTS IOVC DSNT NE-E ACSL S-NW FEW SC NE-S SUN DMLY VSBL/ 8/571 58017 10039 20027 WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 4: PEAK WIND GUST FOR FRIDAY...........29 MPH NW AT 8:43 AM AEROVANE.........30 MPH NW AT 8:43 AM ASOS.............28 MPH NW AT 8:43 AM AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR........13.0 MPH NW ASOS...........12.5 MPH WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR SATURDAY, JANUARY 5: PEAK WIND GUST THROUGH 1 PM..........25 MPH W AT 11:30 AM AEROVANE..........25 MPH W AT 11:30 AM ASOS..............24 MPH W AT 11:30 AM TEMPERATURES AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 4 MAX.....33 NORMAL.....34 ASOS.....33 AT 3:02 PM MIN.....20 NORMAL.....19 ASOS.....21 AT 8:21 AM MEAN....27 NORMAL.....27 DEP.....0 DEP FOR MONTH....0 The month is averaging exactly normal per day. HEATING DEGREE DAYS AT BLUE HILL: HEATING UNITS FOR FRIDAY...............38 DEP.......-1 HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........152 DEP.......-4 HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........1984 DEP.....-486 HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON.............n/a DIFF.....n/a PRECIPITATION DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM....0.00 IN DEP....-0.16 IN ASOS.............0.00 IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH.........0.00 IN DEP....-0.64 IN ASOS.............0.00 IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........0.00 IN DEP....-0.64 IN ASOS.............0.00 IN SNOWFALL DATA AT BLUE HILL TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM.......0.0 IN DEP....-0.5 IN TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH............0.0 IN DEP....-2.0 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..........10.1 INS DEP....-7.9 INS RECORDS FOR JANUARY 5 HIGH 58 IN 1950 LOW -9 IN 1981 PRE 0.98 INS IN 1993 SNOW 4.5 INS IN 1891 WIND 70 MPH WNW IN 1959 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 6 HIGH 60 IN 1913 LOW -14 IN 1896 PRE 3.10 INS IN 1889 SNOW 7.5 INS IN 1893 WIND 70 MPH WNW IN 1959 Daily wind records are for the period 1940-2000. Temperature and precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2000. Mike Iacono