BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME WARMEST TEMPERATURE OF THE YEAR TO DATE TODAY... Under a mostly sunny sky filled with thin broken cirrus clouds, the temperature has soared to a high of 60 degrees so far today as of 1:30 PM. This is the warmest temperature recorded so far this year. The overnight low was 41 last evening with a low of 42 since midnight. The remaining snow cover on the summit is melting rapidly, dropping from 6 inches on Friday morning to 2 inches this morning. The local ponds are also beginning to thaw with Ponkapoag at 9/10 ice cover today with numerous small openings. There are a few small openings visible on Houghton's Pond with water covering some of the ice. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS TONIGHT... Remember to turn clocks ahead one hour tonight. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Thin broken cirrus, hazy Temperature: 45F, Dew point: 35F, Wind: W at 16 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.01 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, hazy 6-hour minimum temperature: 42F Snow depth on ground: 2 inches BHO SA 1155 250 –BKN 25 163/45/35/2616/001/ FEW LWR CI HAZY/ 8/001 4/002 53024 10045 20042 10 A.M. Weather: Thin broken cirrus, light haze Temperature: 52F, Dew point: 31F, Wind: W at 9G22 kts Wind: Direction variable WSW-NW Sea-level pressure: 30.07 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 40 miles, light haze BHO SA 1455 250 –BKN 40 182/52/31/2709G22/007/ LGT HZ WND 24V31/ 8/001 51019 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered cirrus, thin broken cirrus, light haze Temperature: 59F, Dew point: 31F, Wind: WSW at 13 kts Wind: Direction variable SW-W Sea-level pressure: 30.04 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 55 miles, light haze 6-hour maximum temperature: 59F BHO SA 1755 200 SCT 250 –BKN 55 174/59/31/2413/004/ LGT HZ WND 21V27/ 8/001 58008 10059 20045 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2009 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....49 NORMAL.....42 MIN.....30 NORMAL.....25 MEAN....40 NORMAL.....33 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..................+7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.................-47 [-8.0 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............25 DEPARTURE.........-7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............242 DEPARTURE........+45 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........4769 DEPARTURE.........+2 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....4415 DIFFERENCE......+354 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............43 S AT 10:54 A.M. AEROVANE.............41 S AT 10:54 A.M. ASOS.................41 SSW AT 10:54 A.M. DAVIS................43 S AT 10:54 A.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............34 S AT 10:55 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........33 SSW AT 10:55 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........35 S AT 10:55 A.M. AVERAGE............21.9 S ASOS...............21.7 DAVIS..............21.4 S [184 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...........1.48 DEPARTURE.........+0.58 ASOS...............1.34 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR............8.01 DEPARTURE.........-1.73 ASOS...............8.96 # # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 1/1/09, 1/2/09 and 2/27/09. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.........-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............10.2 DEPARTURE.........+7.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............75.5 DEPARTURE........+27.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 3/1 28/21/25/-7/0.26/1.9/000/00 38 NNE 3/2 22/15/19/-13/1.16/8.2/000/00 40 NNE AERO 37 MPH NNE 3/3 25/11/18/-14/0.01/0.1/640/94 33 NW 3/4 30/6/18/-14/0/0/684/100 31 WNW 3/5 39/16/28/-5/0/0/659/96 25 WSW 3/6 49/30/40/+7/T/0/.../.. 43 S AERO 41 MPH S 3/7 morning low temp. 30F; our normal low now 25F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2009... 3/2: DAILY SNOWFALL 8.2 INS. SURPASSES PREVIOUS RECORD OF 7.1 INS. IN 1948 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 7 HIGH 66 IN 1946 LOW -1 IN 1890 PRECIP 2.05 INS. IN 1967 SNOWFALL 11.1 INS. IN 1967 PEAK GUST 66 MPH NE IN 1962 RECORDS FOR MARCH 8 HIGH 63 IN 1942, 1995 LOW 2 IN 1986 PRECIP 2.20 INS. IN 2008 SNOWFALL 8.3 INS. IN 1941 PEAK GUST 69 MPH SSW IN 2008 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono