BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME JANUARY 2013 PRELIMINARY STATISTICS CAN NOW BE FOUND IN ARCHIVES OF DAILY REPORTS AT BLUEHILL.ORG 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLIZZARD OF '78 February 6th and 7th marked 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. TODAY: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM! Partly sunny to sunny with below normal temperatures rising from a low of 16F to near 30F this afternoon. The air is very dry with dew points near zero as we await a major coastal storm during the next couple of days. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, scattered cirrus, and thin broken cirrus, 2 levels, few cumulus/stratocumulus distant offshore Temperature: 17F; Dew Point: 1F; Wind: NNW at 10 kts. Sea-level pressure: 29.96 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 60 miles, distant haze 6-hour min. temp: 16F Snow depth on ground: 1 inch BHO SA 1155 170 SCT 220 SCT 250 –SCT 300 –BKN 60 305/17/1/3410/043/ FEW CU/SC ALG HRZN DSNT OFFSHR ENE-ESE FEW AC/DNS CI LYR XTDNG SSE-WSW VSBY NW 70 LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/842 4/001 53021 10021 20016 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered altocumulus, broken dense cirrus, broken cirrus mostly clear sky NW-NE Temperature: 21F; Dew Point: 1F; Wind: NW at 13 kts, Wind: Gust to 20 kts past hour Sea-level pressure: 30.49 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 90 SCT E200 BKN 250 BKN 75 325/21/1/3213/049/ PTCHS ACSL AND CCSL MSTLY CLR DSNT NW-NE GST 21 KTS PST HR WND 27V34 LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/072 51020 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered dense cirrus/cirrostratus (layer ESE-WSW appears to be slowly invading) thin broken cirrus (2 levels), few altocumulus lenticularis distant ESE-S-WNW, stratocumulus distant offshore NE-ESE Temperature: 29F; Dew Point: 1F; Wind: NW at 8 kts, Wind: Direction variable WNW-NNE Sea-level pressure: 30.47 ins. Hg, falling slightly Visibility: 75 miles, distant haze 6-hr max temp: 29F 6-hr min temp: 17F BHO SA 1755 220 SCT 250 –BKN 300 –BKN 75 320/29/1/3208/047/ SC ALG HRZN DSNT OFFSHR NE-ESE FEW ACSL DSNT ESE-S-WNW DNS CI/CC/CS LYR XTDNG ESE-S-WSW SLWLY INVADING WND 29V02/ LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/545 58005 10029 20017 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....37 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....22 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....30 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................-9 [-1.7 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............35 DEPARTURE..........-4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........243 DEPARTURE..........+9 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3368 DEPARTURE........-397 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2965 DIFFERENCE.......+403 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............35 W AT 2:20 P.M. AERO....................33 W AT 2:32 P.M. * ASOS....................35 W AT 2:21 P.M. DAVIS...................35 W AT 1:48 P.M. RMY 35 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............26 W AT 2:19 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............26 W AT 2:19 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............23 W AT 2:19 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........10.5 W ASOS..................10.9 DAVIS..................9.5 WNW [290 deg] * last of several occurrences.... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE...........-0.13 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.13 DEPARTURE...........-0.68 ASOS..............0.10 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........1.55 DEPARTURE..........-3.61 ASOS..............1.58 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.0 DEPARTURE............-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............2.2 DEPARTURE............-0.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............23.7 DEPARTURE...........-12.4 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 37/22/30/+4/0.01/0.2/.../.. 35 W AERO 33 MPH W RMY 35 2/7 the morning low temp: 16F; 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 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 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 8 HIGH 60F IN 1933 LOW -9F IN 1934 PRECIP 2.50 INS. IN 1945 SNOWFALL 11.0 INS. IN 1891 PEAK GUST 63e MPH NE IN 1945 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling