BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2010, NEW YEARS EVE ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME **2010 WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD** 2010 6TH WETTEST YEAR COOL DECEMBER ENDS ON WARM NOTE The mild temperatures at month's end have helped put 2010 in first place as far as warmest years on record. Despite being the first below average month since December 2009, this month was not quite cold enough to push 2010 out of the top warm spot. Temperatures today are running at least 10 degrees above average, with a morning low of 28F and an afternoon high near 50F. As far as precipitation, 2010 is ending in 6th place with 62.74 inches, well shy of the record of 71.00 inches in 1998. The recent blizzard helped put December 2010 in 18th place as far as snowiest Decembers. More importantly, 8 of the past 9 Decembers have had above average snowfall. The peak wind gust this year was 67 mph from the ENE on March 14. Compared to past years since 1965, this is the second lowest wind gust of any year. The average wind speed this year will end up near 13 mph, landing 2010 in the top ten calmest years on record. Year-end statistics provided by Mike Iacono. More month and year-end statistics to come in the next few days. . . Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, broken thin cirrus, altocumulus lenticularis all quadrants, thin smoke layer distant NNW-NE and distant SW-W, thin fog/haze below inversionm, hazy, looming of mountains SSW Temperature: 31F, Dew point: 23F; Wind: W at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.13 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles, thin fog mostly distant below an inversion, hazy 6-hourly min. temp. 28F Total snow depth on ground: 12 inches BHO SA 1155 E70 BKN 250 –BKN 35 202/31/23/2611/013/ ACSL ALQDS THN K LYR DSNT NNW-NE AND DSNT SW-W THN FG/HZ BLO INVSN HAZY LOOMING OF MTNS SSW/ 8/041 4/012 52010 10031 20028 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, broken cirrostratus, broken thin cirrus, altocumulus lenticularis SW-N-ESE, patches of dense cirrus N-E-SW and overhead, smoke layer distant all quadrants below inversion, estimated inversion top 600 feet over city to the north, partial halo, hazy Temperature: 37F, Dew point: 27F; Wind: WSW at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.14 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, smoke layer distant all quadrants, hazy, 55 miles WNW above inversion BHO SA 1455 80 SCT E220 BKN 250 –BKN 25 205/37/27/2510/014/ ACSL SW-N-ESE PTCHS DNS CI N-E-SW AND OVHD K LYR DSNT ALQDS BLO INVSN ESTMTD TOP 6 HND OVR CTY N PARTIAL HALO VSBY 55 WNW ABV INVSN HAZY/ 8/047 53003 1 P.M. Weather: Two layers of scattered altocumulus, scattered thin cirrus, altocumulus lenticularis all quadrants, patches of dense cirrus distant S, thin smoke layer distant NNW-NE-ESE, hazy Temperature: 46F, Dew point: 33F; Wind: SW at 6 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.09 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles, 45 miles WNW, thin smoke layer distant NNW-NE-ESE, hazy 6-hourly max. temp: 48F BHO SA 1755 80 SCT 100 SCT 250 –SCT 35 191/46/33/2306/009/ ACSL ALQDS PTCHS DNS CI DSNT S THN K LYR DSNT NNW-NE-ESE HAZY VSBY 45 WNW WND 19V27/ 8/042 58014 10048 20031 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....42 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....23 NORMAL.....20 MEAN....33 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.................+5 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH................-56 [-2.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............32 DEPARTURE........-5 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..........1066 DEPARTURE.......+63 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........2226 DEPARTURE.......-66 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2205 DIFFERENCE......+21 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............. 20 WSW AT 9:53 P.M. * AEROVANE...............23 WSW AT 7:17 P.M. ASOS...................20 W AT 9:54 P.M. DAVIS..................20 SW AT 7:09 P.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY............17 WSW AT 10:30 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.............16 W AT 11:49 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE............15 SW AT 9:39 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION........10.4 SW ASOS.................10.1 DAVIS................10.0 WSW [245 DEG] * Last of several occurrences 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..........4.71 DEPARTURE........+0.30 ASOS..............5.26 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........62.74 DEPARTURE.......+11.67 ASOS.............63.18** ** ASOS missing rainfall due to system failure on 6/24-25 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............22.9 DEPARTURE....+12.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............23.0 DEPARTURE.....+9.8 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 2010 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/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 12/1 55/43/49/+13/0.49/0.0/000/00 55 SE AERO 61 MPH SE 12/2 48/29/39/+3/0.00/0.0/540/100 30 W 12/3 38/29/34/-1/0.00/0.0/050/09 25 WNW 12/4 40/28/34/-1/0.00/0.0/516/93 27 WNW 12/5 34/23/29/-6/0.00/0.0/127/23 24 W 12/6 32/22/27/-7/0.00/0.0/447/81 37 WSW AERO 38 MPH WSW 12/7 33/23/28/-6/0.00/0.0/463/84 35 W AERO 37 MPH W 12/8 31/19/25/-8/0.00/0.0/550/100 39 W AERO 40 MPH W 12/9 26/14/20/-13/0.00/0.0/550/100 29 WNW 12/10 25/9/17/-16/0.00/0.0/181/33 17 SSE 12/11 44/25/35/+3/0.00/0.0/460/84 23 WSW 12/12 55/33/44/+12/1.57/0.0/000/00 55 SE AERO 69 MPH SE 12/13 55/33/44/+12/0.35/0.0/027/05 50 SSE AERO 58 MPH SSE 12/14 33/16/25/-6/T/T/120/22 30 W 12/15 19/13/16/-15/0.02/0.2/038/07 33 WNW AERO 38 MPH WNW 12/16 32/15/24/-7/0.00/0.0/491/90 25 SSW 12/17 34/17/26/-5/0.00/0.0/545/100 22 WNW 12/18 37/22/30/0/0.00/0.0/392/72 20 N 12/19 34/25/30/0/0.00/0.0/038/07 17 N 12/20 30/23/27/-3/0.34/3.2/000/00 33 NW AERO 37 MPH NW 12/21 38/23/31/+1/0.02/0.2/125/23 38 NW 12/22 36/28/32/+3/0.14/1.4/000/00 31 NW AERO 35 MPH NW 12/23 36/27/32/+3/0.11/1.1/011/02 36 NW AERO 38 MPH NW 12/24 35/23/29/0/0.00/0.0/545/100 31 NW 12/25 29/18/24/-5/0.00/0.0/055/10 20 WNW 12/26 30/20/25/-3/.../../000/00 58 NNE AERO 65 MPH NNE 12/27 28/15/22/-6/.../../011/02 58 NW AERO 67 MPH NW 12/28 32/14/23/-5/0.00/0.0/546/100 52 WNW AERO 60 MPH WNW 12/29 36/24/30/+2/0.00/0.0/.../.. 32 WNW AERO 36 MPH WNW 12/30 42/23/33/+5/0.00/0.0/.../.. 20 WSW 12/31 our morning low temp: 28F; the normal low is now 20F DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2010 12/15 - NEW RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMP. OF 19F; surpasses the previous record of 20F in 1903,1905,1931, and 1962 12/27 - NEW RECORD PEAK WIND GUST OF 58 MPH NW; surpasses the previous record of 53 MPH W in 1957, WNW in 1976, W in 1978 (estimated) DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 31 HIGH 62 IN 1965 LOW -12 IN 1917 PRECIP 0.96 INS. IN 1906 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 2008 PEAK GUST 78 MPH NW IN 1990 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 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser