BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME VERY TROPICAL CONDITIONS WITH RAIN SHOWERS TODAY... HURRICANE BILL MOVING NORTH TO SSE OF NEW ENGLAND... Temperatures in the middle 80s and dew points in the middle 70s are giving the air a very tropical feel today. Numerous rain showers are forming in the tropical airmass especially inland and moving generally NNE, though only a brief shower brought a trace of rain here this morning. The low temper- ature so far today of 74 is one degree above the present record high minimum for this date of 73 set in 1916. The high so far of 86 is a few degrees short of the record high for today of 90 set in 1939. Hurricane Bill continues to move northward about 400 miles SSE of Cape Cod at 2 PM EDT, and the advancing cirrus layer is overspreading southeastern New England. The outer band of precipitation from the hurricane has reached Nantucket where rain began before 2 PM EDT. The hurricane is expected to make its closest approach to the outer Cape early Sunday morning. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered cumulus, scattered cirrus, few altocumulus, few cirrocumulus, hazy Temperature: 77F, Dew point: 74F, Wind: S at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.96 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 12 miles, hazy 6-hour minimum temp: 74F BHO SA 1155 15 SCT 25 SCT 250 SCT 12 146/77/74/1809/996/ FEW AC NE-SE FEW CC NE HAZY/ 8/531 52010 10076 20074 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, broken cumulus congestus, towering cumulus NW-NNE, few cirrus E-SE, hazy, rain shower NNE moving NNE, rain shower ended past hour Temperature: 83F, Dew point: 73F, Wind: SE at 10 kts Wind: Direction variable ESE to S Sea-level pressure: 29.95 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 25 miles, hazy, visibility NW-NE 15 3-hourly precipitation: Trace BHO SA 1455 25 SCT 45 SCT E55 BKN 25 143/83/73/1510/995/ MDT CU ALQDS TCU NW-NNE FEW CI E-SE VSBY NW-NE 15 HAZY RW NNE MVNG NNE RW-B35E45 WND 12V18/ 8/201 58003 6000/ 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, broken cumulus congestus, overcast cirrus, hazy, rain shower W moving N Temperature: 85F, Dew point: 74F, Wind: SSE at 14 kts, Wind: Direction variable SE-S Sea-level pressure: 29.90 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 30 miles, hazy 6-hourly max. temp: 86F 6-hourly precipitation: Trace BHO SA 1755 35 SCT 45 BKN 250 OVC 30 124/85/74/1614/990/ MDT CU ALQDS THN SPTS IOVC ALQDS HAZY RW W MVNG N WND 13V19/ 8/201 58019 6000/ 10086 20077 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 21 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....88 NORMAL.....78 MIN.....72 NORMAL.....60 MEAN....80 NORMAL.....69 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR AVERAGE..........+11 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........+62 [+2.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DATA WILL RESUME IN SEPTEMBER PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............40 S AT 1:58 P.M. * AEROVANE..............39 S AT 1:56 P.M. ASOS..................40 S AT 1:56 P.M. DAVIS.................39 S AT 1:59 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...............30 S AT 1:58 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............30 S AT 1:59 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........30 S AT 1:59 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......15.6 S ASOS................15.1 DAVIS...............13.7 S [170 DEG] * last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE....-0.13 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.18 DEPARTURE....-1.52 ASOS..............1.19 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........32.44 DEPARTURE....+0.33 ASOS.............33.57 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR 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 8/1 83/63/73/+1/0/823/95 18 SSE 8/2 77/64/71/-1/T/104/12 25 SSE 8/3 84/67/76/+4/0/638/74 17 SW 8/4 83/66/75/+3/0/714/83 23 S 8/5 86/67/77/+5/T/378/44 27 SSW TSTM 8/6 76/61/69/-3/0/564/66 18 SSE 8/7 79/58/69/-2/0/836/98 32 W 8/8 74/55/65/-6/0/791/93 21 WNW 8/9 76/59/68/-3/T/178/21 25 SSE 8/10 87/66/77/+6/0.12/584/69 27 W TSTM 8/11 84/66/75/+4/0.54/684/81 25 NE TSTM 8/12 67/63/65/-6/T/000/00 18 N 8/13 66/60/63/-8/0.18/042/05 23 NNE 8/14 83/58/71/+1/0/762/91 16 S 8/15 88/66/77/+7/0/810/97 18 S 8/16 90/68/79/+9/0/749/90 22 S 8/17 91/69/80/+10/0/.../.. 21 WSW 8/18 91/72/82/+12/0/.../.. 29 SSW 8/19 89/71/80/+10/0/.../.. 23 SW 8/20 83/70/77/+8/0.34/.../.. 21 SSE TSTM 8/21 88/72/80/+11/0/.../.. 40 S AERO 39 MPH S 8/22 morning low temp: 74F; the normal low is now 60F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR AUGUST 2009 TO DATE... 8/19: RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 71F; equals record previously set in 2002 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR AUGUST 22 HIGH 90F IN 1939 LOW 42F IN 1894 PRECIP 2.28 INCHES IN 1935 PEAK GUST 44 MPH SSW 1987 RECORDS FOR AUGUST 23 HIGH 88F IN 1918, 1947, 1949, 1996 LOW 45F IN 1923 PRECIP 1.37 INCHES IN 1955 PEAK GUST 60e MPH NW 1940 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono