BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME YESTERDAY: CLEAR AND VERY SUNNY WEATHER ON SUNDAY WITH NEAR 100% OF POSSIBLE SUNSHINE The temperature rose sharply from a low of 9F in the early morning to an afternoon high of 37F. TODAY: LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AND ICE PELLETS THIS MORNING Precipitation began this morning before 9 A.M. in the form of light ice pellets (only a trace) and light freezing rain which accumulated to about 0.1 inch of glaze before changing to non-freezing rain at 10:20 A.M. which then continued. The temperature had risen to the low 40's early this afternoon. "BLIZZARD OF 2013" FEBRUARY 8-9, 2013 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 This storm erased our snowfall deficit for the season, as we are now running a seasonal surplus of just over one foot, while February now has a surplus of just over two feet! The 2.84 inches of melted precipitation from this storm also helped to put a major dent in what had been a growing precipitation deficit for the year. The preliminary storm total snowfall of 26.6 inches puts this storm in 5th place for greatest snowstorms in the history of Blue Hill Observatory. 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 (1885-2012) 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 3) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 3) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 4) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 5) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 6) 18.0 on 20-21 Feb, 1921 BHO Greatest February Calendar Day Snowfalls, inches (1885-2012) 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: Overcast altostratus, virga all quadrants, bright spots in overcast distant NE-SE, a colorful sunrise Temperature: 28F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: S at 14 kts. Sea-level pressure: 30.21 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 30 miles, distant haze, 25 miles SW Snow depth: 18 inches 6-hour min. temp: 23F BHO SA 1155 E85 OVC 30 230/28/20/1714/021/ VIRGA ALQDS BRGHT SPTS IOVC DSNT NE-SE COLORFUL SKY ENE-ESE SUNRISE VSBY SW 25 DSNT PCPN DSNT HZ ALQDS/ 8/02/ 4/021 58019 10028 20023 10 A.M. Weather: Light freezing rain, scattered stratocumulus, broken higher stratocumulus, overcast nimbostratus, thin fog Temperature: 31F; Dew Point: 29F; Wind: SSE at 17G25 kts, Wind: Peak wind SSE at 28 kts at 9:27 A.M., Wind: Direction variable ESE-S Sea-level pressure: 30.07 ins. Hg, FALLING RAPIDLY Visibility: 10 miles, light freezing rain and thin fog BHO SA 1455 45 SCT E50 BKN 70 OVC 10 ZR- 184/31/29/1517G25/007/ IPEUKN THN GLZ ACCUM 0.1 IN PK WND 1528/27/ WND 11V17/ PRESFR 8/52/ 58046 ASOS 60003 MANUAL 6002/ 1 P.M. Weather: Obscurement with heavy fog, light rain Temperature: 38F; Dew Point: 38F; Wind: S at 18G27 kts, Wind: Peak wind S at 28 kts at 12:37 P.M. Wind: Direction variable, SE-S Sea-level pressure: 29.88 ins. Hg, FALLING RAPIDLY Visibility: 1/16 mile, light rain and dense fog 6-hr max temp: 38F 6-hr precip: 0.08 in. 6-hr snowfall: trace (ice pellets) BHO SA 1755 W3 X 1/16R-F 120/38/38/1718G27/988/ PK WND 1728/37/ WND 13V19/ PRESFR/ 8//// 58064 ASOS 60009 MANUAL 6008/ 10038 20028 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....37 NORMAL.....36 MIN......9 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....23 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................-4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................-30 [-3.2 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............42 DEPARTURE...........+4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........416 DEPARTURE..........+29 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3541 DEPARTURE.........-377 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3087 DIFFERENCE........+454 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............29 NW AT 2:05 A.M. * AERO....................27 NW AT 2:05 A.M. ASOS....................29 NW AT 2:04 A.M. DAVIS...................30 NW AT 2:03 A.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............23 NW AT 2:03 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............22 NW AT 2:05 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............22 NW AT 1:36 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........11.1 NW ASOS..................11.0 DAVIS.................10.7 WMW [290 deg] * last of several occurrences.... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE...........-0.14 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........2.97 DEPARTURE...........+1.62 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........4.39 DEPARTURE...........-1.31 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.........0.0 DEPARTURE............-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............28.8 DEPARTURE...........+23.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............50.3 DEPARTURE...........+12.3 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 20/12/16/-11/0.98/10.5/.../.. 51 NNW AERO 52 MPH N RMY 51 2/10 37/9/23/-4/0.00/0.0/.../.. 29 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY N/A 2/11 the morning low temp: 23F; 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 11 HIGH 60F IN 1981 LOW -10F IN 1899 PRECIP 1.07 INCHES IN 1955 SNOWFALL 9.6 INCHES IN 1933 PEAK GUST 95 MPH S IN 1981 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 12 HIGH 56F IN 1999 LOW -14F IN 1914 PRECIP 4.85 INCHES IN 1886 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 15.0 INCHES IN 2006 PEAK GUST 70 MPH E IN 1985 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Patrick Peters