BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 2010 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME COOLER TEMPS THIS AFTERNOON WITH MUCH-NEEDED RAINFALL... A cold front moved into the region from the southeast overnight and has brought cooler temperatures and steady rainfall throughout the day today. A light drizzle began around 8:45 AM EDT this morning and, as of 2:00 PM EDT, a total of 0.15 inch was measured in the standard gauge. Meanwhile, due to the extensive cloud cover associated with this system, the air temperature has only managed to reach 68F--well below the normal high of 78F. At this rate, today will be the first day to fail to reach a maximum of 70 degrees since June 13. More significant and much-needed rainfall is expected for this evening and through tomorrow. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Overcast altocumulus, scattered altocumulus, few cumulus fractus all quadrants, few altocumulus castellanus NNW-NE, thin stratus layer along horizon W-NW, very light precipitation Temperature: 65F, Dew point: 63F; Wind: SE at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.08 inches Hg, steady Visibility: 30 miles 6-hour rainfall: Trace 6-hour minimum temp: 64F BHO SA 1155 80 SCT 140 OVC 30 186/65/63/1311/008/ FEW CUFRA ALQDS FEW ACC NNW-NE THN STRA LYR ALG HRZN W-NW PCPN VRY LGT/ 8/72/ 53005 MANUAL 6000/ 10065 20064 10 A.M. Weather: Broken nimbostratus, overcast altocumulus, few moderate cumulus distant WSW, few altocumulus lenticularis N, light drizzle Temperature: 68F, Dew point: 66F; Wind: SSE at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.09 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 20 miles, 15 miles S-WSW, light drizzle 3-hour rainfall: 0.02 inch BHO SA 1455 E50 BKN 110 OVC 20L- 189/68/66/1510/009/ FEW MDT CU DSNT WSW FEW ACSL N VSBY S-WSW 15/ 8/72/ 53003 MANUAL 60002 ASOS 60001 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus/cumulus fractus, overcast nimbostratus, few cumulus fractus all quadrants, light drizzle Temperature: 68F, Dew point: 67F; Wind: SE at 11 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.07 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 20 miles, 8 miles NW-NNE, light drizzle 6-hour rainfall: 0.15 inch 6-hour max. temp: 68F BHO SA 1755 E45 BKN 60 OVC 20L- 183/68/67/1411/007/ FEW CUFRA ALQDS VSBY NW-NNE 8/ 8/72/ 58006 MANUAL 60015 ASOS 60014 10068 20064 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....81 NORMAL.....78 MIN.....58 NORMAL.....60 MEAN....70 NORMAL.....69 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR AVERAGE.................+1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.................+64 [+2.8 DEGREES/DAY] PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............18 S AT 10:35 P.M. * AEROVANE..............20 S AT 10:35 P.M. ASOS..................17 S AT 10:35 P.M. DAVIS.................16 SSE AT 10:28 A.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........13 S AT 9:35 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............14 S AT 9:34 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........12 E AT 3:31 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........8.5 S ASOS.................7.5 DAVIS................7.0 ENE [064 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..........1.21 DEPARTURE........-1.49 ASOS..............1.21 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........38.56 DEPARTURE........+6.45 ASOS.............38.25 ** ** ASOS missing rainfall due to system failure on 6/24-25 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR AUGUST 2010 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 79/59/69/-3/0.00/512/59 22 SE 8/2 82/61/72/0/0.00/614/71 24 S 8/3 83/64/74/+2/0.00/397/46 32 SSW AERO 36 MPH SSW 8/4 89/71/80/+8/0.00/421/49 27 SSW 8/5 89/71/80/+8/0.86/103/12 30 W AERO 35 MPH W TSTM 8/6 85/62/74/+2/0.00/693/81 33 W AERO 36 MPH W 8/7 79/58/69/-2/0.00/768/90 28 SSW 8/8 84/63/74/+3/0.00/664/78 30 S 8/9 91/69/80/+9/T/637/75 25 WSW 8/10 87/69/78/+7/0.17/660/78 18 WSW 8/11 80/66/73/+2/0.00/819/97 22 NNE 8/12 80/65/73/+2/T/362/43 21 E 8/13 77/61/69/-2/0.00/780/93 22 ENE 8/14 81/58/70/0/0.00/787/94 22 SSE 8/15 78/59/69/-1/0.00/309/37 24 SSE 8/16 78/63/71/+1/0.17/.../.. 33 S AERO 36 MPH S 8/17 90/70/80/+10/T/.../.. 25 WSW AERO 27 MPH WSW 8/18 83/66/75/+5/0.00/.../.. 16 SSW 8/19 88/64/76/+6/0.01/.../.. 22 SW 8/20 86/63/75/+6/0.00/.../.. 23 W 8/21 81/58/70/+1/0.00/.../.. 18 S 8/22 morning low temp: 64F; the normal low is 60F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR AUGUST 2010 None 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 IN 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 IN 1940 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Eli Melaas