BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME BREEZY TODAY, BUT MILD, WITH MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES; ONLY 0.15 INCH OF PRECIPITATION ON MONDAY Monday's sleet, freezing rain, and rain only provided 0.15 inch of precipitation during the morning and early afternoon. Dense fog developed in the wake of the precipitation Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Southerly winds became westerly, bringing in a drier air mass, and dissipating the fog. Temperatures remain on the mild side, reaching the low 40s this afternoon after a morning low of only 32F. The mild weather of the past two days has had a significant impact on the snow depth on the summit, reducing it to 13 inches by the 7 a.m. observation this morning. The west winds have been gusty today, reaching a peak so far this afternoon of 39 mph. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered thin cirrus, few stratocumulus lenticularis all quadrants, cirrus distant E-ESE, thin fog/haze all quadrants Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: W at 11 kts. Sea-level pressure: 29.66 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles, thin fog/haze all quadrants Snow depth: 13 inches 24-hr precip: 0.15 inch 6-hour min. temp: 32F BHO SA 1155 35 SCT 250 –SCT 35 044/32/27/2711/966/ FEW SCSL ALQDS CI DSNT E-ESE THN FG/HZ ALQDS/ 8/501 4/013 52014 MANUAL 70015 ASOS 70019 10039 20032 10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus/cumulus, broken cirrus, stratocumlus/ cumulus all quadrants with a few moderate tops, cirrus distant E, distant haze Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: W at 11 kts, Wind: Direction variable WSW-WNW Sea-level pressure: 29.70 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 65 miles, distant haze BHO SA 1455 E40 BKN 250 BKN 65 056/39/27/2711/970/ SC/CU ALQDS FEW MDT TOPS CI DSNT E DSNT HZ WND 24V30/ 8/501 51012 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus/cumulus all quadrants, few moderate tops, distant haze Temperature: 41F; Dew Point: 25F; Wind: W at 21G30 kts, Wind: Peak wind W at 34 kts at 12:22 P.M. Wind: Direction variable SW-NW Sea-level pressure: 29.70 ins. Hg, falling then rising Visibility: 55 miles, distant haze 6-hr max temp: 43F BHO SA 1755 E40 BKN 55 058/41/25/2721G30/970/ SC/CU ALQDS FEW MDT TOPS DSNT HZ PK WND 2734/22 WND 23V31/ 8/500 53002 10043 20032 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....44 NORMAL.....36 MIN.....23 NORMAL.....18 MEAN....34 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................-23 [-2.3 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............31 DEPARTURE...........-7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........447 DEPARTURE..........+22 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3572 DEPARTURE.........-384 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3120 DIFFERENCE........+452 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............33 S AT 2:23 P.M. AERO....................35 S AT 2:23 P.M. ASOS....................39 S AT 2:24 P.M. DAVIS...................35 S AT 1:32 P.M. RMY 39 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............27 S AT 2:40 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............26 S AT 2:52 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............26 S AT 2:11 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........16.7 S ASOS..................15.7 DAVIS.................15.3 S [189 deg] * last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.15 DEPARTURE...........+0.01 ASOS..............0.19 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.12 DEPARTURE...........+1.63 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........4.54 DEPARTURE...........-1.30 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...........+23.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............50.3 DEPARTURE...........+11.8 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/325/54 39 WSW AERO 38 MPH W RMY 42 2/2 30/15/23/-3/0/0/452/75 28 SSW AERO 23 MPH SSW RMY 28 2/3 26/19/23/-3/0.08/1.2/000/00 22 W AERO 21 MPH WSW RMY N/A 2/4 29/17/23/-3/T/T/547/90 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/+4/0.01/0.2/521/85 35 W AERO 33 MPH W RMY 35 2/7 29/16/23/-4/0.00/0.0/306/52 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/-11/0.98/10.5/000/00 51 NNW AERO 52 MPH N RMY 51 2/10 37/9/23/-4/0.00/0.0/623/100 29 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY N/A 2/11 44/23/34/+7/0.15/T/000/00 33 S AERO 35 MPH S RMY 39 2/12 the morning low temp: 32F; the normal low is now 19F 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 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 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 13 HIGH 64F IN 1951 LOW -10F IN 1967 PRECIP 2.80 INCHES IN 2008 SNOWFALL 13.5 INCHES IN 1894 PEAK GUST 60 MPH SE IN 1972 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser