BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013 VALENTINES DAY ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME LIGHT SNOWFALL BRINGS DUSTING LAST NIGHT; TEMPERATURES REACHED LOW 40'S THIS AFTERNOON A light snowfall which began just before midnight last night left a dusting of 0.1 inch with no measurable water content by the time it ended by 3 A.M. Temperatures are rising past the 40-degree mark for a 4th consecutive day today under just about cloudless skies. The normal high temperature is currently 37F. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, few lenticularis, few small cumulus offshore distant ENE-E, total new snowfall past 24 hours 0.1 inch Temperature: 29F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: NNW at 9 kts. Sea-level pressure: 29.79 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 50 miles, light distant haze Snow depth: 11 inches 24-hr precip: Trace 24-hr snowfall: 0.1 inch 6-hour min. temp: 29F BHO SA 1155 45 SCT 50 089/29/20/3409/979/ FEW SCSL FEW SML CU DSNT ENE-E MSTLY CLR SKY WSW-NW LGT DSNT HZ TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.1 IN/ 8/800 4/011 53019 MANUAL 6000/ 10032 20029 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, cumulus, stratocumulus distant NE-SSE mostly offshore, stratocumulus distant S and stratocumulus layer distant WNW-NNW, few altocumulus lenticularis NE, few cirrus NE Temperature: 37F; Dew Point: 17F; Wind: NNW at 9 kts, Wind: Direction variable W-N Sea-level pressure: 29.88 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 55 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 CLR 55 118/37/17/3309/988/ CU/SC DSNT NE-SSE MSTLY OFFSHR SC DSNT S AND LYR DSNT WNW-NNW FEW ACSL NE FEW CI NE LGT DSNT HZ WND 28V36/ 8/841 51029 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few small cumulofractus, cumulus forming in vicinity of station SSW-W, stratocumulus distant E-SSE, few cumulus distant SSE, few cirrus distant SE-S Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 19F; Wind: NW at 6 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.90 ins. Hg, rising then falling slightly Visibility: 55 miles, light distant haze 6-hr max temp: 41F BHO SA 1755 CLR 55 124/40/19/3206/990/ OCNL SML CUFRA/CU FRMG VC SSW-W AND SC DSNT E-SSE FEW CU DSNT SSE FEW CI DSNT SE-S WND LGT DSNT LGT HZ/ 8/801 50006 10041 20029 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....42 NORMAL.....36 MIN.....27 NORMAL.....19 MEAN....35 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................-6 [-0.7 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............30 DEPARTURE...........-7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........505 DEPARTURE...........+6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3630 DEPARTURE.........-401 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3203 DIFFERENCE........+427 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............22 W AT 4:10 A.M. * AERO....................17 W AT 4:40 A.M. ASOS....................22 W AT 4:10 A.M. DAVIS...................20 WSW AT 4:10 A.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............16 W AT 4:14 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............16 W AT 4:14 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............15 W AT 4:14 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION......... 8.4 W ASOS...................7.8 DAVIS..................7.5 W [280 deg] * last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...Trace DEPARTURE...........-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.12 DEPARTURE...........+1.34 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........4.54 DEPARTURE...........-1.59 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.........0.1 DEPARTURE............-0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............28.9 DEPARTURE...........+22.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............50.4 DEPARTURE...........+10.9 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/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 44/30/37/+10/0.00/0.0/.../.. 39 W AERO 37 MPH S RMY 39 2/13 42/27/35/+7/T/T/.../.. 22 W AERO 17 MPH W RMY N/A 2/14 the morning low temp: 29F; 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 14 HIGH 56F IN 1949 LOW -8F IN 1979 PRECIP 2.09 INCHES IN 2007 SNOWFALL 11.0 INCHES IN 1914 PEAK GUST 83 MPH SSW IN 2000 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 15 HIGH 60F IN 1954 LOW -18F IN 1943 PRECIP 1.28 INCHES IN 1950 SNOWFALL 11.2 INCHES IN 1940 PEAK GUST 94e MPH WNW IN 1946 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling