BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME RELATIVELY CALM, MILD LATE WINTER DAY Temperatures are again running a few degrees above normal. Prior to the sky becoming mostly cloudy early this afternoon, the high managed to reach 43F. The relatively warm conditions continue to melt the snowpack. The snow depth this morning was down to 7 inches. Winds have been fairly light over the past couple of days, with an average yesterday of only 5.8 mph. The wind appears to have been completely calm for a few short periods overnight. The calm and moist conditions allowed a few areas of fog to develop. A few patches of ground fog were observed from the SW-NW during the 7 A.M. observation. Winds have not gusted in excess of 20 mph since Sunday. 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) 39.7 in 2013 (through Feb. 25) 6) 37.0 in 1893 FROM THE RECORD BOOKS...44TH ANNIVERSARY OF GREATEST SNOWSTORM ON RECORD AT THE OBSERVATORY...24-28 FEBRUARY 1969 While the weekend storm proved to be less than impressive, that certainly was not the case 44 years ago. Shortly after midnight on Feb. 24, 1969, snow began and continued uninterrupted for more than four days. The storm total snowfall 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 single 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 (2 levels), broken altocumulus, stratocumulus and few stratocumulus lenticularis SSW-NW-E, thin fog below inversion all quadrants, patches of ground fog SW-NW, inversion top estimated at 500 ft. over the city to the north, thin smoke layer distant all quadrants Temperature: 33F; Dew Point: 30F; Wind: Esitmated SE at 2 kts, Wind: Light and variable Sea-level pressure: 30.31 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 20 miles, thin fog all quadrants Snow depth: 7 inches 6-hour min. temp: 31F BHO SA 1155 40 SCT 55 SCT E140 BKN 20 265/33/30/E1302/031/ SC AND FEW SCSL SSW-NW-E THN FG BLW INVSN ALQDS PTCHS GF SW-NW INVSN TOP ESTMTD 5 HND OVR CTY N THN K LYR DSNT ALQDS WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/840 51010 4/007 10033 20031 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus, scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus, scattered cirrostratus, scattered thin cirrus, cumulus forming all quadrants, few moderate cumulus SW-N, stratocumulus and altocumulus NNW-ENE, cirrostratus/cirrrus distant S-WSW invading the sky, thin smoke/haze layer distant all quadrants, hazy Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 30F; Wind: E at 6 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.33 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 30 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 20 SCT 55 SCT 140 SCT 200 SCT 250 –SCT 30 272/39/30/1006/033/ CU FRMG ALQDS FEW MDT CU SW-N SC AND AC NNW-ENE CS/CI DSNT S-WSW INVADING THN K/HZ LYR DSNT ALQDS HAZY/ 8/845 50007 1 P.M. Weather: Broken cumulus/stratocumulus, broken stratocumulus cumulogenitus, broken cirrostratus, moderate cumulus all quadrants, stratocumulus cumuluogenitus SW-NW and distant NW-NNE, few stratocumulus lenticularis distant N-ENE, cirrostratus SE-WSW invading the sky, distant haze Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: ESE at 8 kts, Wind: Direction variable E-SSE Sea-level pressure: 30.32 ins. Hg, falling slightly Visibility: 45 miles, distant haze 6-hr max temp: 43F BHO SA 1755 E35 BKN 45 BKN 200 BKN 45 269/40/27/1108/032/ MDT CU ALQDS SCCG SW-NW AND DSNT NW-NNE FEW SCSL DSNT N-ENE CS SE-WSW INVADING DSNT HZ WND 08V15/ 8/406 56003 10043 20033 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....40 NORMAL.....39 MIN.....27 NORMAL.....21 MEAN....34 NORMAL.....30 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+20 [+0.6 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............31 DEPARTURE............-4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........912 DEPARTURE...........-22 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4038 DEPARTURE..........-426 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3531 DIFFERENCE.........+507 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............16 NNW AT 4:06 P.M. * AERO....................13 NW AT 3:02 A.M. * ASOS....................16 N AT 3:39 A.M. DAVIS...................15 NNW AT 12:01 A.M. RMY 15 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............10 NNW AT 2:14 A.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............12 NNW AT 4:07 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............11 NNW AT 4:07 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........5.8 NNW ASOS...................6.0 DAVIS..................5.5 NNW [339 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE...........-0.16 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.54 DEPARTURE...........+1.96 ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........6.96 DEPARTURE...........-0.97 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..............39.7 DEPARTURE...........+27.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............61.2 DEPARTURE...........+15.6 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/-2/0.00/0.0/438/67 40 WNW AERO 40 MPH WNW RMY 43 2/22 37/22/30/+1/0.00/0.0/387/59 28 NW AERO 24 MPH NW RMY 24 2/23 37/30/34/+4/0.31/T/000/00 21 SE AERO 18 MPH SE RMY N/A 2/24 37/29/33/+3/1.19/4.3/000/00 31 NNE AERO 29 MPH NNE RMY 33 2/25 40/27/34/+4/0.01/0.1/.../.. 16 NNW AERO 13 MPH NW RMY 15 2/26 the morning low temp: 31F; 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 26 HIGH 67F IN 1957 LOW -7F IN 1928 PRECIP 2.24 INCHES IN 1979 SNOWFALL 11.1 INCHES IN 1933 PEAK GUST 66 MPH W IN 1961 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 27 HIGH 61F IN 1976 LOW -8F IN 1900 PRECIP 0.90 INCHES IN 1922 SNOWFALL 6.0 INCHES IN 1922 PEAK GUST 67 MPH W IN 1985 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser