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