BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME MUCH COOLER, BUT STILL ON THE WARM SIDE; CALM CONDITIONS TODAY WITH INCREASING CLOUDS Even though a substantially cooler air mass has finally settled into the area, temperatures are still running several degrees above normal today. The high for the day will likely be 40F which occurred just after midnight. Temperatures have been hovering in the 30s all day, and have only managed to dip into the lower 30s so far. The recent warmth, including yesterday's departure of +25 degrees, has pushed the average temperature for January to nearly 8 degrees above normal! But, it appears cooler temperatures are on the way. Conditions have been fairly calm today with a light north wind. There were a few peaks of sunshine this morning, but, for the most part the sky has been mostly cloudy. Clouds have increased and thickened further this afternoon ahead of an approaching storm system that looks to bring some much needed precipitation. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus, scattered altocumulus, broken altocumulus, broken cirrus, stratocumulus distant N-SE-SW, lower altocumulus/altocumulus lenticularis distant E-S-SW, mostly clear sky WNW-NNW, light distant haze Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 25F; Wind: NNW at 8 kts, Wind: Direction gradually backing (counterclockwise) past hour Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, falling then rising Visibility: 60 miles, NW 65 miles, lower E-SW, light distant haze 6-hour precip: Trace 24-hour precip: Trace 6-hr min. temp: 34F BHO SA 1155 30 SCT 65 SCT E140 BKN 250 BKN 60 252/34/25/3308/027/ SC DSNT N-SE-SW LWR AC/ACSL DSNT E-S-SW MSTLY CLR SKY WNW-NNW LGT DSNT HZ VSBY NW 65 E-SW LWR WND GRDLY BACKING PST HR/ 8/541 53010 MANUAL 6000/ ASOS 60001 MANUAL 7000/ ASOS 70001 10039 20034 10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, broken altocumulus, broken cirrus, altocumulus/altocumulus lenticularis distant S-SW, thin smoke layer distant WSW-NNE, light distant haze Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 25F; Wind: NNW at 6 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.31 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 55 miles, NW 65 miles, lower E-SW, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 E30 BKN 100 BKN 250 BKN 55 265/36/25/3406/031/ AC/ACSL DSNT S-SW THN K LYR DSNT WSW-NNE LGT DSNT HZ VSBY NW 65 LWR E-SW/ 8/541 51013 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus (2 levels), broken altostratus, broken cirrostratus, broken cirrus, cirrostratus/cirrus visible distant W-NNW, sun dimly visible, light distant haze, rain shower/virga distant WSW moving E Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 26F; Wind: NW at 5 kts, Wind: Light and variable Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, falling Visibility: 65 miles, light distant haze 6-hour max temp: 39F 6-hour min temp: 33F BHO SA 1755 E30 BKN 40 BKN 180 BKN 200 BKN 250 BKN 65 251/39/26/3105/027/ CS/CI VSBL DSNT W-NNW SUN DMLY VSBL LGT DSNT HZ SHRA/VIRGA DSNT WSW MOVG E WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/577 58014 10039 20033 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 14 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....59 NORMAL.....33 MIN.....40 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....50 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+25 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+112 [+7.8 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............15 DEPARTURE.........-25 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........437 DEPARTURE........-111 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........2465 DEPARTURE........-387 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2197 DIFFERENCE.......+268 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............36 S AT 7:51 A.M. * AERO....................37 S AT 7:51 A.M. * ASOS....................40 S AT 7:51 A.M. DAVIS...................36 S AT 7:51 A.M. RMY 39 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............27 S AT 7:46 A.M. ** MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............27 S AT 7:53 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............28 S AT 7:52 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........14.7 NW ASOS..................14.1 DAVIS.................13.4 WSW [250 deg.] *last of several occurrences **fastest mile likely missed 0750-0800E due to missing data PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...Trace DEPARTURE..........-0.14 ASOS..............0.01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.18 DEPARTURE..........-1.81 ASOS..............0.15 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.18 DEPARTURE..........-1.81 ASOS..............0.15 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.0 DEPARTURE............-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............0.1 DEPARTURE............-7.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............15.5 DEPARTURE............-8.4 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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 1/1 35/18/27/0/0.00/0.0/313/57 44 WNW AERO 44 MPH WNW RMY 45 1/2 29/11/20/-7/0.00/0.0/457/83 35 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 33 1/3 23/2/13/-13/0.00/0.0/529/96 24 WNW AERO 23 MPH WNW RMY 23 1/4 38/19/29/+3/0.00/0.0/320/58 35 W AERO 36 MPH W RMY 36 1/5 40/27/34/+8/0.00/0.0/536/97 36 WNW AERO 37 MPH WNW RMY 38 1/6 42/27/35/+9/T/0.1/471/85 29 SW AERO 29 MPH SW RMY 29 1/7 38/27/33/+7/0.00/0.0/538/97 29 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY N/A 1/8 45/27/36/+10/0.00/0.0/428/77 39 SW AERO 42 MPH SW RMY 41 1/9 42/31/37/+11/T/0.0/033/06 40 W AERO 39 MPH W RMY N/A 1/10 45/32/39/+14/0.00/0.0/.../.. 47 WNW AERO 48 MPH WNW RMY 50 1/11 38/29/34/+9/0.15/0.0/.../.. 23 SE AERO 21 MPH SE RMY 23 1/12 43/35/40/+15/0.02/0.0/000/00 21 SE AERO 18 MPH SE RMY 15 1/13 50/41/46/+21/0.01/0.0/000/00 30 SW AERO 30 MPH SW N/A 1/14 59/40/50/+25/T/0.0/.../.. 36 S AERO 37 MPH S RMY 39 1/15 morning low temp: 34F; the normal low is now 17F DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2013 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 15 HIGH 64F IN 1995 LOW -16F IN 1957 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PRECIP 2.63 INS. IN 1958 SNOWFALL 8.8 INS. IN 1983 PEAK GUST 69e MPH SE IN 1940 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 16 HIGH 63F IN 1995 LOW -12F IN 2004 PRECIP 1.32 INS. IN 1936 SNOWFALL 14.0 INS. IN 1965 PEAK GUST 79 MPH WNW IN 1960 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser