BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
 
DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2009 
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
 
A COLD BUT A SUNNY JANUARY
 
As temperatures continue to average more than 5
degrees colder than average this month, a good
number of very sunny days have pulled the total
sunshine hours and minutes up to near 55% of
possible or close to 10 points above the long-term
average.
It appears our long spell of dry weather with no
precipitation and snowfall since January 17-18 will
be coming to an end tomorrow with a significant
weather event of snow likely changing to rain.
We have continued to report 12 inches of snow on
the ground for the past four days during over a
week of below freezing weather with just two
rather minor exceptions with highs of 36 and
39 degrees. 
 
 
Today's observations:

7 A.M.
Weather: Scattered altostratus (layer SE-SW, thin broken
cirrus clouds, few patches dense cirrus  
Temperature: 15F, Dew point: 3F, Wind: W at 11 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.40 inches Hg, rising
Visibility: 25 miles, light haze
6-hour minimum temperature: 15F
Snow depth on ground: 12 inches
BHO SA 1155 80 SCT 220 SCT 300 –BKN 25 295/15/3/2711/040/
AS SE-SW FEW PTCHS DENS CI HAZY/ 8/011 4/012 53010
10017 20015
 
10 A.M.
Weather: Scattered dense cirrus (E-S-W), broken higher
cirrus clouds
Temperature: 20F, Dew point: 6F, Wind: W at 7 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.46 inches Hg, rising
Visibility: 30 miles, thin smoke SW-N, light haze    
BHO SA 1455 200 SCT E250 BKN 300 BKN 30 314/20/6/2807/046/
DENS CI E-S-W MSTLY CLR SKY NW-N THN K SW-N HAZY/
8/002 51019
 
1 P.M.  
Weather: Thin scattered cirrus, few cirrocumulus 
Temperature: 25F, Dew point: 6F, Wind: W at 10 kts,
Wind: direction variable SW-WNW 
Sea-level pressure: 30.40 inches Hg, falling
Visibility: 35 miles, light haze 
6-hour maximum temperature: 26F 
BHO SA 1755 250 –SCT 35 296/25/6/2610/040/
FEW CC LGT HZ/ 8/001 58018 10026 20014
 
WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 26
 
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....25    NORMAL.....34 
MIN.....10    NORMAL.....18
MEAN....18    NORMAL.....26
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...............-8
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.............-113  [-4.5 DEGREES/DAY]
 
HEATING DEGREE DAYS
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............47  DEPARTURE.........+8
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........1127  DEPARTURE.......+115
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........3367  DEPARTURE........+26
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....3067  DIFFERENCE......+300
 
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............17  W  AT  4:19 A.M.
                   AEROVANE.............15  W  AT  4:19 A.M. 
                   ASOS.................17  W  AT  4:19 A.M. 
                   DAVIS................17  W  AT  4:11 A.M. 
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............14  W  AT  3:23 A.M.  
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........14  W  AT  4:18 A.M.  
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........13  W  AT  3:23 A.M.  
                   AVERAGE............ 7.2  W 
                   ASOS................6.6  
                   DAVIS...............6.6  W [260 deg]  
 
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.00  DEPARTURE.........-0.15
                         ASOS...............0.00
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........2.86  DEPARTURE.........-1.17
                         ASOS...............3.94 #
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR............2.86  DEPARTURE.........-1.17
                         ASOS...............3.94 #
# Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 1/1/09 and 1/2/09
 
SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST)
TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0   DEPARTURE.........-0.5
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............20.6   DEPARTURE.........+7.6
TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............51.0   DEPARTURE........+24.4
 
PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 2009 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
 
1/1  16/1/9/-18/0/0/538/98           44 WNW   Aero 44 MPH WNW
1/2  32/9/21/-6/0/0/005/01           28 S
1/3  32/21/27/0/T/T/539/98           43 WNW   Aero 44 MPH WNW
1/4  35/17/26/-1/0/0/512/93          36 W     Aero 33 MPH W
1/5  36/26/31/+4/0.06/0/000/00 *     30 W   
1/6  33/21/27/+1/0/0/183/33          27 W 
1/7  36/26/31/+5/1.26/0.8/000/00     46 NE    Aero 45 MPH NE
1/8  38/21/30/+4/0.01/0.1/389/70     47 W     Aero 45 MPH W
1/9  25/16/21/-5/0/0/546/98          37 W     Aero 36 MPH W
1/10 24/11/18/-8/0.10/1.0/329/59     28 W
1/11 31/19/25/-1/0.55/5.3/000/00     30 NW
1/12 27/18/23/-3/0.02/0.4/410/73     24 WNW
1/13 34/16/25/-1/0.04/T/107/19       25 SE
1/14 33/10/22/-4/0/0/518/92          47 W     Aero 48 MPH W
1/15 16/5/11/-15/0/0/000/00          20 NW
1/16 17/0/9/-17/0/0/557/98           26 W
1/17 19/1/10/-16/0/0/450/79          23 W
1/18 29/14/22/-4/0.58/9.5/000/00     24 E
1/19 32/19/26/+1/0.24/3.5/057/10     18 NW
1/20 30/17/24/-1/T/T/247/43          30 NW
1/21 23/9/16/-9/0/0/462/80           25 SW
1/22 31/14/23/-2/0/0/493/85          31 SW
1/23 39/24/32/+7/0/0/378/65          31 S
1/24 36/9/23/-3/0/0/280/48           40 W    Aero 42 MPH W
1/25 23/3/13/-13/0/0/532/91          25 SW
1/26 25/10/18/-8/0/0/535/91          17 W
 
1/27 morning low temp: 14F; our normal low is now 18F
     (low temp. occurred at 7:20 a.m.)
 
* 1/5 typo in sunshine data discovered:
  was 512/93 is corrected to 000/00
 
NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2009...
 
..NONE..
 
DAILY EXTREMES
Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and
wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):
 
RECORDS FOR JANUARY 27
HIGH 63F IN 1974
LOW -12F IN 1924
PRECIP 1.59 INS. IN 1996
SNOWFALL 11.0 INS. IN 1894
PEAK GUST 91 MPH SSE IN 1996
 
RECORDS FOR JANUARY 28
HIGH 59F IN 1916
LOW -9F IN 1888, 1924
PRECIP 2.18 INS. IN 1897
SNOWFALL 15.0 INS. IN 1897
PEAK GUST 78e MPH SSE IN 1977
 
TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Robert Skilling