BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 PRESIDENTS DAY ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME WEEKEND SNOWFALL TOTALS 6.4 INCHES LOW WATER CONTENT OF JUST 0.48 INCH STRONG WINDS CAUSED CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW YESTERDAY AND LAST NIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE DROPS TO 11 DEGREES The snowfall which began Saturday morning amounted to 1.2 inches before ending by early afternoon. Snow began late Saturday night and continued into early Sunday afternoon with an additional 1.5 inches by 7 A.M. Sunday and finally an additional 3.7 inches by early Sunday afternoon. The light density of the snow and strong winds from the northwest gusting up to over 50 MPH resulted in considerable blowing and drifting of snow with drifting snow lasting into this morning. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered cirrus, 2 levels, few cumulus, stratocumulus, Temperature: 12F; Dew Point: -1F; Wind: NW at 20G33 kts., Wind: Peak gust 34 kts WNW @ 6:12 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.86 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 60 miles, light distant haze 24-hour snowfall: 3.7 inches 24-hour precip: 0.29 inch Snow depth: 9 inches 6-hour max. temp: 14F 6-hour min. temp: 11F BHO SA 1155 250 SCT 60 113/12/-1/3020G33/986/ FEW CU/SC DSNT OFFSHR ENE-E PTCH ACSL VC NW CI/LWR CI XTDNG NNW-E-SSE VSBY NW 70 LGT DSNT HZ OCNL DRFTG SNW PK WND 3034/12/ TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 3.7 INS/ 8/841 4/009 53037 ASOS 70028 MANUAL 70029 10014 20011 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cirrus ESE-SE Temperature: 19F; Dew Point: 0F; Wind: WNW at 22G38 kts, Wind: Peak wind 38 kts WNW @ 9:46 A.M. Wind: Direction variable W-NNW Sea-level pressure: 29.93 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 70 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 136/19/0/2922G38/993/ FEW CI ESE-SE PK WND 2938/46/ WND 26V33/ LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/001 51023 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, cirrus distant SSE-SSW Temperature: 28F; Dew Point: 0F; Wind: WNW at 16G34 kts Wind: Peak wind 34 kts. NW @ 12:49 P.M. Wind: Direction W-NNW Sea-level pressure: 29.97 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze 6-hr max temp: 29F 6-hr min temp: 12F BHO SA 1755 CLR 75 149/28/0/3016G34/997/ FEW THN CI DSNT SSE-SSW LGT DSNT HZ PK WND 3134/49/ WND 26V33/ 8/001 51013 10029 20012 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....28 NORMAL.....37 MIN.....15 NORMAL.....19 MEAN....22 NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................-6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+11 [+0.4 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............43 DEPARTURE............+6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........636 DEPARTURE...........-12 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3762 DEPARTURE..........-416 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3308 DIFFERENCE.........+454 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............54 WN AT 5:35 P.M. AERO....................54 WNW AT 5:35 P.M. ASOS....................55 NW AT 5:35 P.M. DAVIS...................55 WNW AT 5:35 P.M. RMY 58 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............40 WNW AT 7:02 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............38 WNW AT 7:03 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............37 WNW AT 2:39 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........25.3 WNW ASOS..................23.0 DAVIS.................21.9 NW [310 deg] * last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.29 DEPARTURE...........+0.14 ASOS..............0.28 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.60 DEPARTURE...........+1.24 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.02 DEPARTURE...........-1.69 -2.21 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.........3.7 DEPARTURE...........+3.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............35.3 DEPARTURE..........+26.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............56.8 DEPARTURE..........+15.3 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/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 43/29/36/+8/T/0.1/.../.. 21 NNW AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY N/A 2/15 48/29/39/+11/0.00/0.0/.../.. 31 S AERO 30 MPH S RMY 32 2/16 35/29/32/+4/0.07/1.3/.../.. 25 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY 40 2/17 28/15/22/-6/0.41/5.1/000/00 54 NW AERO 54 MPH NW RMY 58 2/18 the morning low temp: 11F; the normal low is now 20F 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 18 HIGH 65F IN 1981 LOW -10F IN 1958 PRECIP 1.97 INCHES IN 1887 SNOWFALL 9.2 INCHES IN 1952 PEAK GUST 70 MPH S IN 2008 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 19 HIGH 66F IN 1981 LOW -5F IN 1923 PRECIP 2.73 INCHES IN 1972 SNOWFALL 12.0 INCHES IN 1893 PEAK GUST 76 MPH ENE IN 1972 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Patrick Peters/Peter Volpe If you do not wish to receive this Daily Discussion and Climate Summary from the Blue Hill Observatory, please send an email to sitemaster@bluehill.org.