BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA   DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   AUGUST OFF TO SLIGHTLY WARMER THAN NORMAL START ADDITIONAL STATS NOW SHOW JUNE-JULY 2009 HAD THE LOWEST SUNSHINE TOTAL ON RECORD FOR THE TWO MONTHS   Temperatures have reached the lower to mid 80's today and the average will be several degrees above normal after the first three days averaged about one degree on the warm side of normal. More data has become available here today which shows that the combined sunshine for June-July 2009 is the lowest total on our entire record. In terms of percent it is 39%, an average of 27% during June and 51% in July.  The long-term average for the two months is 55% for June and 57% for July.   Jun-Jul sunshine is lowest on record by almost 20 hours:   Lowest Sunshine June-July, 1886-2009 (hours) 1) 344.7 in 2009 2) 364.3 in 1903 3) 379.7 in 1916 4) 392.0 in 1959   Lowest Sunshine June-July, 1886-2009 (percent) 1) 39% in 2009 2) 41% in 1903 3) 43% in 1916 4) 44% in 1959   Here's another interesting twist on the sunshine data. The sunshine for Jun-Jul of 344.7 hours is only slightly higher than the total sunshine of 344.6 hours for Jan-Feb of this year, which was the 5th highest for those months.   The Jun-Jul and Jan-Feb sunshine have never been this close before on the entire record.  The previous closest was 295.7 in Jan-Feb 1959 and 392.0 in Jun-Jul 1959. Sunshine for the year to date was as high as 3rd sunniest through April, though the year has now turned to cloudier than normal for Jan-July.     Today's observations:   7 A.M.   Weather: Scattered stratocumulus and some stratocumulus castellanus with sky clearing past hour, inversion present with smoke layer top estimated at one thousand feet over city north and Mt. Wachusett dimly visible above inversion WNW, thin fog below the inversion SE-SW     Temperature: 72F, Dew point: 62F, Wind: Calm Sea-level pressure: 30.03 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 15 miles, 12 miles north-northeast, 45 miles WNW above inversion 6-hour minimum temp: 66F BHO SA 1155 65 SCT 15 169/72/62/0000/003/ SC/SCC NW-E SKY CLRG PST HR INVSN PRSNT ESTMTD TOP ONE THSND OVR CTY N K LYR BLO INVSN N-NE THN FG BLO INVSN SE-SW VSBY N-NE 12 WNW 45 ABV INVSN/ 8/500 51007 10072 20066   10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, few moderate cuform tops, haze increasing rapidly  Temperature: 76F, Dew point: 69F, Wind: S at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.01 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 9 miles, hazy  BHO SA 1455 9 SCT E12 BKN 9 164/76/69/1909/001/ SC/FEW MDT CUFRM TOPS HZ INCRSNG RPDLY/ 8/500 58005    1 P.M.   Weather: Scattered cumulus, few moderate cumulus Temperature: 82F, Dew point: 65F, Wind: S at 9 kts, Wind: direction variability SSE to SSW Sea-level pressure: 29.96 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 12 miles, hazy   6-hourly max. temp: 83F  BHO SA 1755 50 SCT 12 147/82/65/1909/996/ FEW MDT CU HAZY WND 15V21/ 8/200 56017 10083 20072   WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 3   TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....84    NORMAL.....81 MIN.....67    NORMAL.....63 MEAN....76    NORMAL.....72   DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR AVERAGE..........+4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........+4  [+1.1 DEGREES/DAY]   HEATING DEGREE DATA WILL RESUME IN SEPTEMBER   PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............17 SW AT 12:14 A.M.                        AEROVANE..............16 WNW AT 12:23 P.M.                       ASOS..................15 SSW AT 12:48 A.M.                     DAVIS.................17 SW  AT 12-1  A.M. *    FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...............11 SW  AT 12:39 A.M.   MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............12 SW  AT 12:39 A.M.   MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........12 SW  AT 12:39 A.M.    AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........6.1 SW                    ASOS.................5.6                      DAVIS................6.0 SW [220 DEG]   * within the hour, minute not available   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00   DEPARTURE....-0.12                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........trace  DEPARTURE....-0.36                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........31.26   DEPARTURE....+1.49                          ASOS.............32.38                                                                                                                                                                PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JULY - AUGUST 2009 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system gust when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized   7/1  62/57/60/-10/0.51/000/00   25 NNE   TSTM 7/2  66/56/61/-9/1.00/000/00    29 SSW   TSTM 7/3  75/58/67/-3/T/283/31       23 WSW 7/4  77/59/68/-2/0/838/92       43 W       7/5  78/54/66/-5/0/856/94       33 W      7/6  79/60/70/-1/0/883/97       20 SSE 7/7  66/58/62/-9/0.73/027/03    28 SE    TSTM 7/8  67/56/62/-9/0.23/091/10    27 NNE   TSTM 7/9  66/55/61/-10/0/689/76      23 NE 7/10 76/54/65/-6/0/896/99       21 SW 7/11 77/56/67/-5/0.29/686/76    36 S 7/12 78/60/69/-3/0.33/650/72    30 SSW   TSTM 7/13 76/55/66/-6/0/802/89       32 SW  7/14 75/56/66/-6/0/567/63       25 WNW 7/15 79/55/67/-5/0/826/92       30 WSW 7/16 77/62/70/-2/T/161/18       30 S 7/17 86/65/76/+4/0.01/582/65    24 ESE 7/18 84/66/75/+3/0.35/447/50    25 SSW   TSTM 7/19 80/62/71/-1/0/865/97       27 WSW 7/20 80/64/72/0/0/481/54        16 E 7/21 66/61/64/-8/0.62/000/00    29 NNE 7/22 77/61/69/-3/T/160/18       15 W 7/23 72/60/66/-6/0.68/195/22    35 NE 7/24 69/60/65/-8/2.07/088/10    46 NE    AERO 45 NE 7/25 83/61/72/-1/0/766/87       30 SSE 7/26 82/68/75/+3/0.05/422/48    32 S      7/27 83/69/76/+4/0/588/67       30 S     TSTM  7/28 86/67/77/+5/0/709/81       24 S 7/29 82/69/76/+4/0/070/08       29 S 7/30 84/69/77/+5/0.25/392/45    25 S     TSTM 7/31 81/66/74/+2/0.50/122/14    39 WNW   AERO 39 WNW TSTM   NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR JULY 2009 7/24: New record peak gust 46 MPH NE at 3:32 A.M.       surpasses previous record of 43 MPH S IN 2008   8/1  83/63/73/+1/0/.../..    18 SSE 8/2  77/64/71/-1/T/.../..    25 SSE 8/3  84/67/76/+4/0/.../..    17 SW   8/4  our morning low temp: 66F; the normal low is now 63F   NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR AUGUST 2009 TO DATE... NONE   DAILY EXTREMES   Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):   RECORDS FOR AUGUST 4 HIGH 95F IN 1928 LOW 48F IN 1900 PRECIP 1.68 INS IN 1983 PEAK GUST 48 MPH SW IN 1974   RECORDS FOR AUGUST 5 HIGH 98F IN 1955 LOW 48F IN 1929,1972 PRECIP 3.03 INCHES IN 1893 PEAK GUST 60e MPH SW 1977   TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling Additional climate stats for June-July sunshine by Mike Iacono