BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME WARMER TODAY WITH LIGHT WINDS...OVERCAST AHEAD OF APPROACHING STORM EXPECTED LATER TODAY... The minimum temperature this morning of 30F was much warmer than yesterday morning due to the low overcast of stratocumulus in place over the area. This is the leading edge of a storm forming to the south that will approach Southern New England later this evening. Visibility has been much lower than yesterday near 40 miles. February continues to be slightly warmer than normal, and temperatures near or above normal are expected for the rest of the month. This month will be among the snowiest Februarys on record, with more snow expected this weekend. BLUE HILL SNOWIEST FEBRUARYS, INCHES (1886-2012) 1) 65.4 in 1969 2) 51.3 in 2003 3) 45.2 in 1967 4) 40.4 in 1920 5) 37.0 in 1893 6) 36.0 in 1899 7) 35.3 in 2013 (through Feb. 22) 8) 34.7 in 1926,1934 FROM THE RECORD BOOKS...44TH ANNIVERSARY OF GREATEST SNOWSTORM ON RECORD AT THE OBSERVATORY...24-28 FEBRUARY 1969 February 23rd, 1969 was a day much like today, cloudy with temperatures near freezing and an onshore wind. Shortly after midnight that night the snow began and continued uninterrupted for more than four days. A storm total of 38.7 inches is the largest on record at the Observatory, and the calendar day total of 27.4 inches on 24 February 1969 is also the largest snowfall for any day. The total melted precipitation for this storm was 4.53 inches. The peak gusts were 60 mph NE on the 24th and 64 mph NE on the 26th of February, 1969. The snow depth reached 41 inches near the end of this storm and reached a high of 43 inches following another snowfall in early March. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, overcast stratocumulus, few lower stratocumulus offshore distant E-ESE, higher clouds visible distant ENE-SE Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: ESE at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.25 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 35 miles, hazy 6-hour min. temp: 30F Snow depth: 7 inches BHO SA 1155 40 SCT E55 OVC 35 244/30/27/1209/025/ FEW LWR SC OFFSHR DSNT E-ESE HIR CLDS VSBL DSNT ENE-SE HAZY/ 8/57/ 4/007 58010 10031 20030 10 A.M. Weather: Overcast stratocumulus, few lower stratocumulus Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: SE at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.23 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 40 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 E30 OVC 40 237/34/27/1310/023/ FEW LWR SC HAZY/ 8/5// 58007 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, overcast stratocumulus, few small cumulus NNW-NNE Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 28F; Wind: SE at 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.15 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 40 miles, hazy 6-hr max temp: 36F BHO SA 1755 20 SCT E30 OVC 40 210/36/28/1310/015/ FEW SML CU NNW-NNE HAZY/ 8/5// 58027 10036 20030 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....37 NORMAL.....38 MIN.....22 NORMAL.....20 MEAN....30 NORMAL.....29 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+9 [+0.2 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............35 DEPARTURE............-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........818 DEPARTURE...........-10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3944 DEPARTURE..........-415 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3451 DIFFERENCE.........+493 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............28 NW AT 2:01 A.M. * AERO....................24 NW AT 2:01 A.M. * ASOS....................29 NW AT 12:49 A.M. DAVIS...................27 NW AT 1:20 A.M. RMY 24 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............22 NW AT 1:23 A.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............21 NNW AT 1:39 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............21 NW AT 1:23 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........10.0 NNW ASOS...................9.0 DAVIS..................8.7 N [357 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..........4.03 DEPARTURE...........+0.93 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.45 DEPARTURE...........-2.00 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............-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............35.3 DEPARTURE...........+24.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............56.8 DEPARTURE...........+12.7 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/+10/0.00/0.0/606/96 39 W AERO 37 MPH S RMY 39 2/13 42/27/35/+7/T/T/615/97 22 W AERO 17 MPH W RMY N/A 2/14 43/29/36/+8/T/0.1/564/89 21 NNW AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY N/A 2/15 48/29/39/+11/0.00/0.0/566/89 31 S AERO 30 MPH S RMY 32 2/16 35/29/32/+4/0.07/1.3/000/00 25 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY 40 2/17 29/15/22/-6/0.41/5.1/000/00 54 NW AERO 54 MPH NW RMY 58 2/18 31/11/21/-8/0.00/0.0/632/98 52 WNW AERO 52 MPH WNW RMY 53 2/19 45/21/33/+4/0.43/0.0/201/31 33 SSW AERO 32 MPH SSW RMY 36 2/20 40/23/32/+3/T/0.0/189/29 44 W AERO 43 MPH W RMY 47 2/21 31/22/27/-2/0.00/0.0/.../.. 40 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW RMY 43 2/22 37/22/30/+1/0.00/0.0/.../.. 28 NW AERO 24 MPH NW RMY 24 2/23 the morning low temp: 30F; the normal low is now 21F 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 23 HIGH 62F IN 1990 LOW -8F IN 1907 PRECIP 1.48 INCHES IN 1967 SNOWFALL 10.6 INCHES IN 1967 PEAK GUST 73 MPH WNW IN 1974 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 24 HIGH 68F IN 1985 [RECORD FOR MONTH] LOW -11F IN 1894 PRECIP 3.10 INCHES IN 1969 SNOWFALL 27.4 INCHES IN 1969 [HIGHEST CALENDAR DAY AMOUNT ON RECORD] PEAK GUST 63 MPH NE IN 1998 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono