BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME MAJOR NORTHEASTER MARCH 13-15, 2010 WET SNOW BECOMES MIXED WITH THE RAIN STORM TOTAL OVER 8 INCHES THIS MORNING AS RAIN AND STRONG WINDS CONTINUE.. RAINFALL TOTAL REACHES 7.64 INCHES FOR 48 HOURS ENDING AT 8 A.M. EDT TODAY Wet snow was observed mixing with the moderate rain by mid-morning and the temperature fell to 37F from 38 and 39 degrees early this morning. A peak wind gust to 53 MPH N was recorded early this afternoon at 12:27 P.M. EDT By 1 P.M. EDT our rainfall was approaching 8.5 inches for the storm event. By 9 a.m. our total rainfall for the storm had reached up to about 7.80 inches with moderate rain still continuing and by 11 a.m. EDT it was 8.21 inches. wind gusts from the NNE continue to be over 40 MPH with the day's peak gust so far 51 MPH N at 1:44 a.m. EDT. As of 8 a.m. Sunday morning our rainfall total was 3.23 inches in the standard gage for the 24 hour period beginning Saturday morning when rainfall first started. The next 24 hours from 8 a.m. Sunday to 8 a.m. this morning the total for the standard gage is 4.41 inches for a total of 7.64 inches. The ASOS storm total is very close at 7.73 inches. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Partial obscurement, overcast stratus fractus, 3/10 sky obscured by fog and stratus drifting over the summit, modt. rain occasionally light rain Temperature: 38F, Dew point: 38F, Wind: NNE at 25G38 kts Wind: Peak gust 38 kts, NE at 6:53 AM Wind: Direction variable N to ENE Sea-level pressure: 29.64 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 1/4 mile, variable 1/8 to 1/8 mile, stratus drifting over summit 6-hour minimum temp: 38F 6-hour precip: N/A 24 hour precip: 4.41 inches BHO SA 1155 –X E3 OVC 1/4VRF 038/38/38/0225G38/964/ F3 STRA DRFTG OVR SMT VSBY 1/8V1/2 R OCNL R- PK WND 0238/49/ WND 35V06/ 8/7// 51016 ASOS 60092 MANUAL 6XXX/ ASOS 70452 MANUAL 70441 STORM TOTAL MANUAL 7.64 INS. 10 A.M. Weather: Overcast stratus fractus, moderate rain with wet snow mixed and fog Temperature: 38F, Dew point: 38F, Wind: NNE at 23G40 kts, Wind: Peak gust 40 kts, NNE at 9:53 AM Wind: Direction variable NNW to ENE Sea-level pressure: 29.74 inches Hg, rising Visibility: 1 miles, moderate rain and fog 3-hour precipitation: 0.57 in. 3-hour snowfall: trace BHO SA 1455 E6 OVC 2RS- 052/38/38/0223G40/968/ SNW VRY LGT WET PK WND 0240/53/ WND 34V06/ 8/7// 51014 MANUAL 6057/ ASOS 60058 STORM TOTAL 8.21 ins. WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 14 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....45 NORMAL.....44 MIN.....38 NORMAL.....27 MEAN....42 NORMAL.....36 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR AVERAGE..............+6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..............+81 [+5.6 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............23 DEPARTURE........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........358 DEPARTURE.......-83 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4758 DEPARTURE......-253 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....4979 DIFFERENCE.....-221 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY.............67 ENE AT 12:51 A.M. AEROVANE..............66 ENE AT 12:51 A.M. ASOS..................69 ENE AT 12:51 A.M. DAVIS.................65 ENE AT 12:49 A.M. THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY...........43 ENE AT 2:55 A.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE............43 NE AT 2:33 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE...........43 NE AT 3:09 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION......... 26.9 NNE ASOS...................25.3 DAVIS..................25.1 NE [40 DEG] * last of several occurrences PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....4.41 DEPARTURE.....+4.25 ASOS..............4.52 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH .........8.49 DEPARTURE....+6.38 ASOS..............8.53 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR .........17.59 DEPARTURE....+6.64 ASOS.............17.65 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........trace DEPARTURE......-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH............... 7.3 DEPARTURE......+1.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON .............63.8 DEPARTURE.....+12.2 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 3/1 44/33/38/+6/0.38/3.2/047/07 43 NW AERO 42 MPH NW 3/2 43/32/38/+6/0/0/352/52 22 NNE 3/3 34/31/33/+1/0.18/1.7/000/00 45 NNE AERO 43 MPH NNE 3/4 33/30/32/-1/0.19/1.9/000/00 32 NNW 3/5 39/28/34/+1/0.06/0.5/226/33 28 N 3/6 54/27/41/+8/0/0/689/100 25 WNW 3/7 55/31/43/+10/0/0/684/99 28 W 3/8 58/36/47/+13/0/0/680/98 38 W 3/9 51/32/42/+8/0/0/656/94 31 WNW 3/10 53/30/42/+8/0/0/.../.. 19 SE 3/11 46/35/41/+6/0.04/0/.../.. 17 ENE 3/12 45/36/41/+6/T/0/.../.. 26 NE 3/13 39/36/38/+3/.../../000/00 53 NE AERO 50 MPH NE 3/14 45/38/42/+6/.../T/000/00 67 ENE 3/15 our morning low temp: 38F; the normal low is now 27F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2010 New daily record rainfall for 3/14 to be determined... New peak gust for 3/14: 67 MPH ENE; previous 66 MPH WNW in 1982 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 15 HIGH 80 IN 1990 LOW 6 IN 1993 PRE 1.33 INS. IN 1972 SNOW 12.0 INS. 1967 WIND 73e MPH ESE IN 1940 RECORDS FOR MARCH 16 HIGH 73 IN 1990 LOW 8 IN 1932 PRE 1.95 INS. IN 1900 SNOW 10.0 INS. IN 1896 WIND 79 MPH NE IN 1956 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling