BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2010 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME VERY MILD TEMPERATURES OVER PAST TWO DAYS MONTHLY DEPARTURE NOW 2 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL JANUARY PRECIPITATION ONE THIRD OF NORMAL High temperature readings have reached the middle 40's over the past couple of days and the daily averages have both been close to ten degrees on the warm side for this time of year. The monthly mean temperature averaged 4 degrees colder than normal during the first 13 days of the month but has now risen to just 2 degrees on the cold side when we include the past two very mild days. While monthly snowfall of 10 inches is still several inches above average, precipitation, almost entirely from the snowstorm on 2-3 January, is only one third of normal with 0.84 inch to date. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Overcast stratocumulus, break in overcast to the distant NNE-ESE along horizon and bright spots in overcast Temperature: 33F, Dew point: 27F, Wind: NNE at 7 kts, Wind: Direction gradually veering Sea-level pressure: 30.16 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 12 miles, lower south thru west to northwest, inversion present 6-hour minimum temp: 30F Average snow depth: 4 inches BHO SA 1155 E19 OVC 12 214/33/27/0207/016/ BINOVC DSNT NNE-ESE ALG HRZN BRGHT SPTS IOVC VSBY LWR S-W-NW INVSN PRSNT THN FG WND GRDL VEERING/ 8/5// 4/004 51010 10033 20030 10 A.M. Weather: High dense cirrostratus overcast, partly thin to the north thru northeast, few stratocumulus and altocumulus and altocumulus lenticularis west thru north thru east Temperature: 38F, Dew point: 30F, Wind: E at 7 kts, Wind: Direction variable NE-E Sea-level pressure: 30.19 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 12 miles, hazy, inversion present, estimated top 7 hundred feet over city north BHO SA 1455 200 SCT E220 OVC 12 222/38/30/0807/019/ FEW SC/AC W-N-E OVC PTLY THN N-NE HAZY ALQDS INVSN ALQDS ESTMTD TOP 7 HND OVR CTY N WND 04V10/ 8/547 53008 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....45 NORMAL.....34 MIN.....29 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....37 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR AVERAGE............+11 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.............-28 [-2.0 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............28 DEPARTURE.......-11 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........647 DEPARTURE.......+29 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........2891 DEPARTURE.......-56 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2924 DIFFERENCE......-33 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............28 WSW AT 5:51 P.M. AEROVANE..............24 W AT 8:32 P.M. * ASOS..................28 WSW AT 5:51 P.M. DAVIS.................28 W AT 6:08 P.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........20 WNW AT 8:31 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............20 WNW AT 9:16 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........21 WNW AT 8:32 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.......12.9 WSW ASOS................12.2 DAVIS...............12.3 WSW [250 DEG] * last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE....-0.16 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.84 DEPARTURE....-1.64 ASOS..............0.74 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.84 DEPARTURE....-1.64 ASOS..............0.74 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.....-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............10.7 DEPARTURE.....+2.7 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............40.5 DEPARTURE....+18.9 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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 1/1 31/23/27/0/0.01/0.1/005/01 24 NW 1/2 28/19/24/-3/0.45/5.7/000/00 53 W AERO 55 W 1/3 25/13/19/-8/0.34/4.3/000/00 45 W AER0 44 W 1/4 32/20/26/-1/0/0/397/72 35 W AERO 28 W 1/5 29/18/24/-3/0/0/000/00 29 WNW 1/6 30/17/24/-2/0/0/554/100 33 W 1/7 37/21/29/+3/0/0/549/99 31 W 1/8 25/16/21/-5/0.04/0.6/000/00 22 WNW 1/9 25/10/18/-8/0/0/557/100 31 WNW 1/10 26/5/16/-10/0/0/508/91 23 WNW 1/11 33/12/23/-3/0/0/526/94 21 W 1/12 32/12/22/-4/0/0/146/26 36 WNW AERO 33 WNW 1/13 28/9/19/-7/T/T/303/54 28 WNW AERO 31 WNW 1/14 36/19/28/+2/0/0/486/86 25 S 1/15 44/28/36/+10/0/0/.../.. 35 W 1/16 45/29/37/+11/0/0/.../.. 28 WSW 1/17 our morning low temp: 30F; the normal low is now 18F DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 17 HIGH 55F IN 1973,1995 LOW -8F IN 1907,1982 PRECIP 1.43 INS. IN 1956 SNOWFALL 13.4 INS. IN 1956 PEAK GUST 62 MPH S IN 1994 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 18 HIGH 62F IN 1973,1990 LOW -10F IN 1982 PRECIP 1.68 INS. IN 1915 SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1948 PEAK GUST 85 MPH SSE IN 2006 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling