BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME JANUARY 2013 PRELIMINARY STATISTICS CAN NOW BE FOUND ON THE PREVIOUS 5 DAYS OF EMAILS AND ON ARCHIVED EMAILS ON OUR WEBSITE: BLUEHILL.ORG 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLIZZARD OF '78 February 6th and 7th mark the 35th anniversary of the Blizzard of 1978. The storm dumped 30.1 inches of snow on the summit, and produced a wind gust to 84 mph. LIGHT SNOW AND VERY LIGHT WINDS The second minor snowfall event of this young month of February occurred late yesterday into early this morning. The snow started out yesterday morning and continued for hours into the afternoon with no accumulation. Then, last evening accumulating began during the early evening and continued into early this morning with an estimated 0.8 inch by midnight and an additional 0.2 inch by about 2 A.M. this morning. Then very light snow continued ending about 6:30 A.M. The measurement was 1.0 inch of snow melted down to just 0.05 of precipitation. The very fluffy snow had the appearance of "ivory flakes" on its surface this morning. LOW WIND SPEEDS.... Wind averages made it onto our list of lowest daily wind speeds yesterday and early this morning. For 24 hours ending at midnight last night the average of 4.6 MPH on our contacting wind recording system was lowest for a calendar day since May 5, 2012, at 3.9 MPH. On the Maximum, Inc. Merlin system the average from 7 A.M. yesterday through 7 A.M. this morning was only 2.8 MPH WNW. On October 25, 2012, winds averaged only 2.6 MPH Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Overcast nimbostratus, higher clouds visible, light snow (very light) ended at 6:30 A.M., thin fog all quadrants Temperature: 24F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: NNW at 3 kts. Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.96 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 5 miles, except 3 miles NW-NW, thin fog 6-hour min. temp: 24F 24 hour precip: 0.05 inch 24 hour snowfall; 1.0 inch Snow depth on ground: 1 inch BHO SA 1155 E50 OVC 5F 145/24/24/3303/996/ HIER CLD VSB VSBY NW-N 3 SE30 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 1.0 IN WND LGT / 8/02/ 4/001 53015 ASOS 60001 MANUAL 6001/ ASOS 70005 MANUAL 70005 10025 20024 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, few lower altocumulus distant W-MW Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 25F; Wind: W at 7 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.00 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 12 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 75 SCT 12 159/30/25/2607/000/ FEW LWR AC DSNT W-NW HAZY ALQDS/ 8/070 51014 1 P.M. Weather: Broken variable scattered cumulus, few moderate cumulus, stratocumulus cumulogenitus formed by spreading out of cumulus Temperature: 35F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: WNW at 13 kts. Wind: Gust to 23 kts past hour Wind: Direction variable W-NNW Sea-level pressure: 29.98 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly Visibility: 30 miles, distant haze 6-hr max temp: 37F 6-hr min temp: 23F 6-hr precip: none BHO SA 1755 E40 BKN 30 152/35/20/2913/998/ BKN V SCT CU/FEW MDT CU/SCCU ALQDS GST 23 KTS PST HR WND 26V33/ 8/400 58007 10037 20023 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....25 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....18 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....22 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................-4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................-13 [-2.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............43 DEPARTURE..........+4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........208 DEPARTURE.........+13 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3333 DEPARTURE........-393 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2937 DIFFERENCE.......+396 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............21 W AT 1:18 A.M. AERO....................15 W AT 1:18 A.M. ASOS....................20 W AT 1:19 A.M. DAVIS...................20 W AT 1:18 A.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............14 W AT 12:03 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............15 W AT 12:05 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............14 W AT 12:05 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........4.6 W ASOS...................4.1 DAVIS..................4.2 SW [220 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.05 DEPARTURE...........-0.09 ASOS..............0.05 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.13 DEPARTURE...........-0.55 ASOS..............0.10 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........1.55 DEPARTURE..........-3.48 ASOS..............1.58 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........1.0 DEPARTURE............+0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............2.2 DEPARTURE............-0.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............23.7 DEPARTURE...........-11.9 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 2013 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system gust RMY: RMY = R.M. Young wind gust recording system added 8/9/2011 TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 2/1 32/19/26/0/T/T/.../... 39 WSW AERO 38 MPH W RMY 42 2/2 30/15/23/-3/0/0/.../... 28 SSW AERO 23 MPH SSW RMY 28 2/3 26/19/23/-3/0.08/1.2/.../.. 22 W AERO 21 MPH WSW RMY N/A 2/4 29/17/23/-3/T/T/.../.. 44 W AERO 46 MPH W RMY N/A 2/5 25/18/22/-4/0.04/0.8/000/00 21 W AERO 16 MPH W RMY N/A 2/6 the morning low temp: 24F through 7 A.M.; and 23F after 7 A.M. the normal low is now 18F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2013 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 6 HIGH 54F IN 1909 LOW -10F IN 1895 PRECIP 1.88 INS. IN 1896 SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1978 [BLIZZARD OF 1978] PEAK GUST 84e MPH NE IN 1978 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 7 HIGH 51F IN 1951,1953 LOW -8F IN 1910 PRECIP 2.12 INS. IN 1983 SNOWFALL 17.1 INS. IN 1978 [BLIZZARD OF 1978] PEAK GUST 87e MPH SSE IN 1951 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling