BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME IMPRESSIVE SNOWSTORM COMES TO AN END PRELIMINARY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL: 26.6 INCHES TOTAL MELTED PRECIPITATION: 2.84 INCHES PEAK WIND GUST: 63 MPH E AT 8:32 PM ON FEB 8TH Snow began falling yesterday morning, becoming moderate in intensity by early afternoon. Heavy snow began falling in the evening, although no thunder was observed. There was a lot of drifting of snow with winds frequently gusting 40-55 mph, and a bit stronger on occasion. Shoveling of snow at the entrance of the building and out to the enclosure for snow measurements was necessary every 1-2 hours. Drifts in a few locations reached about 2 ft. or so before midnight. Conditions fell just shy of the technical blizzard criteria. While visibility was likely lower than 1/4 mile for at least a 3 hour period, the wind speed did not remain at 35 mph for 3 consecutive hours. It did come close 6-10 P.M. with hourly wind speeds, respectively 32 mph, 35 mph, 37 mph, and 34 mph. Snow ended early this afternoon, and even the sun came out for a bit. Winds continued to blow and drift the snow. Drifts around the building have reached 4-5 ft. in a number of spots, perhaps a bit higher. The preliminary storm total snowfall of 26.6 inches puts this storm in 5th place for greatest snowstorms in the history of Blue Hill Obs. Thanks to observer Mike Iacono for assembling the following lists. BLUE HILL GREATEST SNOWSTORMS (inches): 1) 38.7 on Feb 24-28, 1969 2) 30.3 on Mar 3-5, 1960 3) 30.1 on Feb 6-7, 1978 4) 30.0 on Mar 31 - Apr 1, 1997 5) 26.6 on Feb 8-9, 2013 6) 24.7 on Feb 17-18, 2003 7) 24.3 on Dec 5-7, 2003 BHO Greatest February Snowstorms, inches (1885-2013) 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 3) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 4) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 5) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 6) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 7) 18.0 on 20-21 Feb, 1921 BHO Greatest February Calendar Day Snowfalls, inches (1885-2013) 1) 27.4 on 24 Feb, 1969 2) 20.0 on 17 Feb, 2003 3) 18.6 on 16 Feb, 1958 4) 17.1 on 7 Feb, 1978 5) 16.1 on 8 Feb, 2013 6) 16.0 on 5 Feb, 1907 7) 15.0 on 20 Feb, 1921 15.0 on 20 Feb, 1934 15.0 on 4 Feb, 1961 15.0 on 12 Feb, 2006 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Moderate snow and blowing snow, overcast stratus, blowing/ drifting of snow, moderate snow becoming light snow at unknown then becoming moderate snow and continuing, total new snow past 24 hours 24.9 inches Temperature: 17F; Dew Point: 16F; Wind: N at 17G25 kts, Peak wind: 33 kts. from the N at 6:03 A.M. Wind: Direction variable WNW-NNE Sea-level pressure: 29.63 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 1/4 mile, moderate snow and blowing snow 24-hr snowfall: 24.9 inches 24-hr precip: 2.74 inches 6-hr precip: 0.71 inch Snow depth: 20 inches 6-hour min. temp: 14F BHO SA 1155 E8 OVC 1/4SBS 034/17/16/3517G25/963/ BLWG/DRFTNG SNW PK WND 3533/03 WND 29V02 S BCMG S- UKN BCMG S UKN CTD TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 24.9 INS/ 8/7// 53020 4/020 MANUAL 70274 MANUAL 60071 10017 20014 10 A.M. Weather: Moderate snow and blowing snow, overcast stratus, blowing/ drifting of snow, light snow becoming moderate snow at unknown time and continuing Temperature: 16F; Dew Point: 14F; Wind: NNW at 21G31 kts, Wind: Peak wind 34 kts. from the NNW at 9:13 A.M. Wind: Direction variable WNW-NNE Sea-level pressure: 29.71 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 1/4 mile, moderate snow and blowing snow 3-hr snowfall: 1.1 inches 3-hr precip: 0.08 inch BHO SA 1455 E8 OVC 1/4SBS 061/16/14/3321G31/971/ BLWG/DRFTNG SNW PK WND 3434/13 WND 29V02 S- BCMG S UKN CTD/ 8/7// 53027 MANUAL 60008 1 P.M. Weather: Light snow, broken stratus fractus, broken stratocumulus, overcast cirrostratus, sun occasionally visible, snow shower WNW-NE-S moving ESE, light snow continued very light, total new snow past 6 hours 1.7 inches Temperature: 19F; Dew Point: 14F; Wind: NNW at 21G31 kts, Wind: Peak wind 34 kts. from the NNW at 12:07 P.M. Wind: Direction variable WNW-N Sea-level pressure: 29.78 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 25 miles, light snow, NNW-E-SSE 12 miles, WNW 45 miles Storm total snowfall: 26.6 inches 6-hr snowfall: 1.7 inches 6-hr precip: 0.10 inch 6-hr max temp: 20F BHO SA 1755 E20 BKN 40 BKN 200 OVC 25S- 086/19/14/3421G31/978/ SUN OCNLY VSBL VSBY NNW-E-SSE 12 WNW 45 SHSN WNW-NE-S MOVG ESE PK WND 3334/07 WND 29V01 S- CTD PCPN VRY LGT TOTAL NEW SNW PST 6 HRS 1.7 INS/ 8/807 53025 MANUAL 60010 10020 20016 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....31 NORMAL.....35 MIN.....18 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....25 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................-2 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................-15 [-2.1 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............40 DEPARTURE..........+2 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........325 DEPARTURE.........+14 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3450 DEPARTURE........-392 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3033 DIFFERENCE.......+417 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............63 NE AT 8:32 P.M. * AERO....................61 NE AT 8:30 P.M. ASOS....................66 NE AT 8:31 P.M. DAVIS...................63 NNE AT 8:30 P.M. RMY 66 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............42 NNE AT 9:24 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............40 NNE AT 9:25 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............40 NNE AT 8:47 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........22.5 E ASOS..................21.7 DAVIS.................19.8 ENE [066 deg] * last of several occurrences.... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....2.74 DEPARTURE...........+2.61 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........2.87 DEPARTURE...........+1.79 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........4.29 DEPARTURE..........-1.14 ASOS..............N/A* *ASOS malfunctioned during storm on 2/8-9, leading to erroneous totals SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........24.9 DEPARTURE...........+24.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............27.1 DEPARTURE...........+23.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............48.6 DEPARTURE...........+11.6 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 29/16/23/-4/0.00/0.0/.../.. 24 NW AERO 21 MPH NW RMY 24 2/8 31/18/25/-2/1.86/16.1/000/00 63 NE AERO 61 MPH NE RMY 66 2/9 the morning low temp: 14F; the normal low is now 18F DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2013 2/8 - NEW RECORD DAILY SNOWFALL OF 16.1 INCHES; surpasses the previous record of 11.0 inches in 1891 2/8 - TIED DAILY RECORD PEAK WIND GUST OF 63e MPH NE IN 1945 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 9 HIGH 58F IN 1990 LOW -21F IN 1934 [LOWEST TEMPERATURE ON RECORD] PRECIP 2.12 INS. IN 1969 SNOWFALL 13.0 INS. IN 1969 PEAK GUST 89 MPH NE IN 1969 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 10 HIGH 56F IN 1909 LOW -8F IN 1899 PRECIP 1.34 INS. IN 1909 SNOWFALL 12.1 INS. IN 1926 PEAK GUST 64 MPH W IN 2001 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser