BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA   DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS FROM EAST YESTERDAY TOTAL RAINFALL OF 1.43 INS. SET NEW DAILY RECORD PEAK WIND GUSTS 47 TO 52 MPH E (SEVERAL SYSTEMS) FEBRUARY PRECIPITATION TOTAL CLOSE TO 7 INCHES WETTEST MONTH SINCE OVER 9 INCHES, OCTOBER 2011 WETTET FEBRUARY SINCE 2008 WHICH HAD 8.17 INCHES WINTER SEASON TEMPERATURE  (DEC-JAN-FEB) IS NOW MORE THAN 3 DEGREES MILDER THAN 30-YEAR AVERAGE    The wind and rain, moderate to heavy rain at times, reached a peak between 1 and 2 P.M. with an average wind speed of 32 MPH and almost 0.3 inch of rain for that hour. The 420C wind system had a peak gust to 47 MPH and ASOS to 52 MPH E. The heavy rainfall pushed the monthly total to nearly 7 inches and the most since October, 2011.  This year's precipitation is finally more than average  by 0.14 inch at 8.39 inches after running below normal throughout January and February.   Blue Hill Wettest Februarys, inches (1885-2013)    1) 9.32 in 1969  2) 8.29 in 1886  3) 8.17 in 2008  4) 7.93 in 1981  5) 7.80 in 1984  6) 7.43 in 1920  7) 7.03 in 1926  8) 6.97 in 2013 (preliminary data thru 2/27)  9) 6.82 in 1900     6.82 in 1998   February temperatures have edged up to 1 degree above the the 30-year normal (1981-2010) and the winter season of December, January and February is running plus 3.4 degrees through February 27.  This is about half of the departure in the winter of 2011-2012 which was +6.4 degrees.   BLUE HILL SNOWIEST FEBRUARYS, INCHES (1886-2013) 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. 27) 6) 37.0 in 1893   FROM THE RECORD BOOKS...44TH ANNIVERSARY OF GREATEST SNOWSTORM ON RECORD AT THE OBSERVATORY...24-28 FEBRUARY 1969   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: Partial obscurement with 3/10 of fog, overcast stratus, fog lifting, ceiling variable 200 to 500 ft.      Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 32F; Wind: W @ 4 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.62 ins. Hg, rising then falling Visibility: 1/2 variable from 1/16 to 1 mile, visibility increasing, fog lifting 6-hour min. temp: 32F 24-hour precip: 1.18 ins.  Snow depth: 3 inches BHO SA 1155 –X E4V OVC 1/2VF 029/32/32/2704/962/ F3 CIG 2V5 STRA DRFTG OVR SMT VSBY 1/16V1 CIG/VSBY INCRSNG/ 8/6// 4/003 50008 MANUAL 70118 ASOS 70120 10035 20032   10 A.M.  Weather: Overcast stratus, thin fog, few stratus fractus drifting over and below summit  Temperature: 35F; Dew Point: 34F; Wind: W at 4 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.62 ins. Hg, rising then falling slightly  Visibility: 3 miles, light fog BHO SA 1455 E3 OVC 3F 032/35/34/2704/962/ FEW STFRA DRFTG OVR AND BLO SMT WND LGT/ 8/6// 50003    1 P.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, mostly N-E, scattered altocumulus, broken altocumulus, overcast dense cirrus, dense cirrus overhead thru S-W Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 36F; Wind: Estimated at 2 kts NW Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.58 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly Visibility: 30 miles, except 20 miles NE-SE, distant haze all quadrants  6-hr max temp: 40F BHO SA 1755 15 SCT 75 SCT E150 BKN 200 OVC 30 017/40/36/E3102/958/ SC N-E OVC PTLY THN OVHD-SW-W DNS CI OVHD-S-W VSBY NE-SE 20 DSNT HZ ALQDS WND LGT/ 8/572 58015 10040 20032   WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27   TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....40      NORMAL.....40 MIN.....35      NORMAL.....22                         MEAN....38      NORMAL.....31     DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+7 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+34 [+1.1 DEGREES/DAY]   HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............27   DEPARTURE............-7 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........967   DEPARTURE...........-36 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4093   DEPARTURE..........-441 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3592   DIFFERENCE.........+501   PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............47 E   AT  1:35 P.M.                     AERO....................48 E   AT  1:49 P.M.                     ASOS....................52 E   AT  1:49 P.M.                     DAVIS...................50 E   AT  1:34 P.M. RMY 50 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............36 E   AT  1:35 P.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............35 E   AT  1:36 P.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............34 E   AT  1:34 P.M.  AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........21.0 E                    ASOS..................19.3                    DAVIS.................18.4 E [080 deg]   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....1.18  DEPARTURE...........+1.02                          ASOS..............1.20 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........6.97  DEPARTURE...........+3.07                          ASOS..............N/A* TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........8.39  DEPARTURE...........+0.14                          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...........+26.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............61.2   DEPARTURE...........+14.7   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/-2/0.00/0.0/438/67     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/+4/0.01/0.1/339/51     16 NNW AERO 13 MPH NW  RMY 15 2/26  43/31/37/+7/0.00/0.0/454/68     25 E   AERO 23 MPH E   RMY N/A  2/27  40/35/38/+7/1.43/0.0/000/00     47 E   AERO 48 MPH E   RMY 50   2/28  the morning low temp: 32F; the normal low is now 22F   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 2/27- NEW REOCRD DAILY PRECIPITATION OF 1.43 INCHES;       surpasses the previous record of 0.90 inch in 1922   DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):   RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 27 HIGH 61F IN 1976 LOW -8F IN 1900 PRECIP 0.90 INCHES IN 1922 (NEW RECORD 1.43 INCHES IN 2013) SNOWFALL 6.0 INCHES IN 1922 PEAK GUST 67 MPH W IN 1985   RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 28 HIGH 62F IN 1976 LOW -2F IN 1907,1934 PRECIP 1.79 INCHES IN 1958 SNOWFALL 8.5 INCHES IN 2005 PEAK GUST 88e MPH SSW IN 1943   RECORDS FOR MARCH 1 HIGH 62 IN 1972 LOW -3 IN 1886 PRECIP 1.65 INS. IN 1900 SNOWFALL 9.4 INS. IN 1949 PEAK GUST 78 WSW IN 1966   TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling