BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME BRIGHT SUNSHINE AND COLD TODAY...DECEMBER AND JANUARY COMBINED WILL BE 7TH SNOWIEST ON RECORD... A brisk wind on the summit today made the already cold temperature feel near zero early this morning. The peak gust has been 37 mph W at 10:53 A.M. Only a few clouds blocked the sun for a few minutes at sunrise, and the sky was mostly clear all morning. A few small cumulus have formed by early afternoon despite the very dry air, and the visibility has climbed to 50 miles, the highest since last weekend. January continues to average very cold, but this month will only be the coldest January since 2004. The total snowfall for December and January will be 55.1 inches, which is the 7th highest on record for these two months combined. Each of the other years with more snow in Dec-Jan ended the season with 90 or more inches of snow. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few altocumulus north-southeast, hazy Temperature: 18F, Dew point: 8F, Wind: W at 16G23 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.79 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, hazy 6-hour minimum temperature: 18F Snow depth on ground: 13 inches BHO SA 1155 CLR 25 089/18/8/2716G23/979/ FEW AC N-SE HAZY/ 8/030 4/013 53010 10023 20018 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cumulus fractus distant W-NW Temperature: 21F, Dew point: 8F, Wind: W at 13G24 kts Wind: Direction variable WSW-WNW Wind: Peak gust 30 mph W at 9:36 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.82 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 30 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 30 098/21/8/2713G24/982/ FEW CUFRA DSNT W-NW WND 24V30 PK WND 2726/36/ 8/100 50009 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered small cumulus, few cumulus fractus Temperature: 24F, Dew point: 7F, Wind: W at 13G23 kts Wind: Direction variable WSW-NW Wind: Peak gust 35 mph W at 12:12 P.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.78 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 50 miles 6-hour maximum temperature: 24F BHO SA 1755 45 SCT 50 085/24/7/2813G23/978/ FEW CUFRA ALQDS WND 25V31 PK WND 2630/12/ 8/100 56013 10024 20017 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 30 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....36 NORMAL.....34 MIN.....17 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....27 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...............+1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.............-114 [-4.0 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............38 DEPARTURE.........-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........1284 DEPARTURE.......+116 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........3524 DEPARTURE........+27 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....3200 DIFFERENCE......+324 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............25 SSW AT 4:46 P.M. AEROVANE.............24 SSW AT 4:46 P.M. ASOS.................25 SSW AT 2:01 P.M. DAVIS................25 S AT 2:01 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............18 SSW AT 4:45 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........20 SSW AT 2:02 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........20 S AT 2:02 P.M. AVERAGE.............11.1 SSW ASOS................10.7 DAVIS...............10.3 SW [218 DEGREES] 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...........4.16 DEPARTURE.........-0.47 ASOS...............5.20 # TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR............4.16 DEPARTURE.........-0.47 ASOS...............5.20 # # 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.........-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............24.7 DEPARTURE.........+9.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............55.1 DEPARTURE........+26.3 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 27/14/21/-5/0/0/.../.. 22 W 1/28 37/19/28/+2/1.30/4.1/000/00 39 WSW 1/29 34/20/27/+1/0/0/.../.. 48 WSW Aero 50 MPH WSW 1/30 36/17/27/+1/0/0/.../.. 25 SSW 1/31 morning low temp: 17F; our normal low is now 18F 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 31 HIGH 58F IN 1913, 1947 LOW -12F IN 1920 PRECIP 1.03 INS. IN 1914 SNOWFALL 9.0 INS. IN 1898 PEAK GUST 75 MPH NW IN 1974 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 1 HIGH 65F IN 1989 LOW -9F IN 1920 PRECIP 1.30 INS. IN 1898 SNOWFALL 11.0 INS. IN 1898 PEAK GUST 66e MPH SSW IN 1951 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Mike Iacono