BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 2008 ENDS WITH A SNOWSTORM NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR DECEMBER 31 The year ended with a new daily record snowfall for December 31 of 7.5 inches, surpassing the previous record for the date of 6.0 inches in 1886. Arctic air moved in after 7:00 PM, bring the temperature down to a low of 5 degrees F by midnight, the lowest temperature for the month of December and the lowest temperature observed here since February 29, 2008. The temperature had dropped to just 1 degree F just before 7:00 AM, the lowest we have seen since March 9, 2007. The peak wind gust for the day was 54 MPH from the WNW which occurred at 9:28 PM, and several other gusts in the 50-55 MPH range were recorded overnight. 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant NE-S Temperature: 2F, Dew point: -7F, Wind: W at 17G30 kts Wind: Peak gust past hour 30 kts W at 6:51 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.97 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles 6-hour minimum temperature: 1F 24-hour precipitation: 0.73 inch 24-hour snowfall: 7.5 inch Snow on ground: 6 in. BHO SA 1155 CLR 35 150/2/-7/2817G30/997/ FEW SC DSNT NE-S PK WND 2830/51 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 7.5 INS/ 8/500 4/006 51031 MANUAL 6000/ MANUAL 70073 ASOS 70061 10004 20001 ASOS PRECIP INOP 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant NE-SE Temperature: 8F, Dew point: -2F, Wind: W at 20G30 kts, Wind: Peak gust past hour 33 kts W at 9:02 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 30.04 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 35 174/8/-2/2820G30/004/ FEW SC DSNT NE-SE PK WND 2833/02/ 8/500 51024 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant NE-E Temperature: 14F, Dew point: -3F, Wind: W at 18G27 kts, Wind: Peak gust past hour 37 kts WNW at 12:22 P.M. Wind: Direction variable S-NW Sea-level pressure: 30.04 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 40 miles 6-hour max. temp. 14F BHO SA 1755 CLR 40 173/14/-3/2718G27/004/ FEW SC DSNT NE-E PK WND 2937/22 WND 17V31/ 8/500 55001 10014 20001 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNEDAY, DECEMBER 31 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....24 NORMAL.....35 MIN......5 NORMAL.....20 MEAN....15 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..............-12 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..............+58 [+1.7 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............50 DEPARTURE........+13 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............990 DEPARTURE........-50 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........2240 DEPARTURE........-89 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....2167 DIFFERENCE.......+73 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............54 WNW AT 9:28 P.M. AEROVANE.............53 WNW AT 9:28 P.M. * ASOS.................52 NW AT 9:29 P.M. DAVIS................51 WNW AT 9:28 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............40 WNW AT 9:28 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........38 NW AT 9:29 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........38 WNW AT 9:29 P.M. AVERAGE........... 16.1 WNW ASOS...............15.5 DAVIS..............15.0 NW [317 DEGREES] * last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.73 DEPARTURE.........+0.58 ASOS...............0.61 * TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR DECEMBER............9.16 DEPARTURE.........+4.60 ASOS...............9.15 # TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR (2008)....59.45 DEPARTURE.........+8.23 ASOS..............62.16 ## * Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 12/31/08 and 1/1/09. # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on several dates during December 2008. ## Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 2/13/08 and several dates during December 2008. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........7.5 DEPARTURE.... +7.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR DECEMBER................30.4 DEPARTURE....+19.7 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............30.4 DEPARTURE....+16.8 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 2008 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 12/1 59/43/51/+15/0.12/0.0/374/67 43 SSW 12/2 47/32/40/+4/0.00/0.0/451/81 33 SSW 12/3 44/29/37/+2/0.00/0.0/556/100 24 SSW 12/4 53/33/43/+8/T/0.0/122/22 42 SSW Aero 43 MPH S 12/5 38/26/32/-3/0.00/0.0/404/73 26 WNW 12/6 37/23/30/-4/0.00/0.0/309/56 21 S 12/7 32/20/26/-8/0.12/1.6/000/00 54 W Aero 53 MPH W 12/8 21/10/16/-17/0.00/0.0/462/84 50 W Aero 50 MPH W 12/9 53/13/33/0/0.01/T/000/00 48 S Aero 50 MPH S 12/10 60/37/49/+16/0.43/0.0/000/00 55 S Aero 58 MPH S 12/11 37/34/36/+4/1.52/T/000/00 38 NNE Aero 35 MPH NNE 12/12 61/28/45/+13/2.32/0.0/088/16 75 SSE Aero 76 MPH SSE 12/13 28/17/23/-9/0.00/0.0/531/97 33 W 12/14 43/17/30/-1/0.00/0.0/328/60 36 S 12/15 61/43/52/+21/0.00/0.0/076/15 55 S Aero 56 MPH S 12/16 57/26/42/+11/0.14/T/000/00 43 W 12/17 38/25/32/+1/0.46/1.2/000/00 26 E Aero 22 MPH E 12/18 37/28/33/+3/0.00/0.0/261/48 23 WSW 12/19 29/14/22/-8/1.28/8.0/000/00 46 NE Aero 45 MPH NE 12/20 20/11/16/-14/0.35/4.5/000/00 30 NNW 12/21 33/17/25/-5/0.97/7.2/000/00 43 W Aero 44 MPH W 12/22 22/12/17/-12/0.00/0.0/544/100 47 W Aero 45 MPH W 12/23 27/9/18/-11/0.00/0.0/463/85 30 W 12/24 50/23/37/+8/0.23/T/000/00 53 S 12/25 52/27/40/+11/0.08/0.0/518/95 54 W Aero 54 MPH W 12/26 35/23/29/+1/0.00/0.0/311/57 25 SE 12/27 47/33/40/+12/0.37/0.0/000/00 37 S 12/28 58/41/50/+22/0.0/0.0/000/00 43 SW 12/29 42/29/36/+8/0.0/0.0/257/47 39 W 12/30 36/23/30/+2/0.03/0.4/515/94 60 W Aero 58 MPH W 12/31 24/5/15/-12/0.73/7.5/000/00 54 WNW 1/1 morning low temp. 1F; our normal low is now 19F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2008... 12/12 PEAK GUST 75 MPH SSE; PREVIOUS 74 MPH W IN 2000 12/28 RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 41; PREVIOUS 39 IN 1907 12/31 RECORD DAILY SNOWFALL 7.5 INCHES; PREVIOUS 6.0 IN 1886 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 1 HIGH 58F IN 1966 LOW -6F IN 1918 PRECIP 1.45 INS. IN 1982 SNOWFALL 7.2 INS. IN 1938 PEAK GUST 90e MPH S IN 1945 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2 HIGH 62F IN 1890 LOW -7F IN 1899,1918 PRECIP 2.10 INS. IN 1987 SNOWFALL 9.0 INS. IN 1904 PEAK GUST 85e MPH S IN 1942 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Stephanie Radner