BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA   DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2013    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   MILD, WINDY DAY AT THE SUMMIT   It's been another warmer than average day at the summit today, with temperatures climbing over 50F by late morning, more typical of early April than January!  The warmth of yesterday and today have caused all ice cover to melt on Ponkapoag Pond, while Houghton's Pond is now less than half covered in ice. This month continues to run over 7 degrees above normal, though this departure will likely decrease by the end of the month as much colder air is expected to move into New England in the next few days.   Winds have been gusty today, with a peak gust of 47mph occurring at 12:14 P.M. Today will likely be the second day in a row with an average wind speed of greater than 20mph, the first time this has happened since November 7th and 8th of last year.    Today's observations:   7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few altocumulus distant ENE-S Temperature: 39F; Dew Point: 31F; Wind: SSW at 20G28 kts, Wind: Peak wind of 28 kts from the SSW at 6:48 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.68 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly Visibility: 25 miles, light distant haze Snow depth: Trace 6-hour min temp: 39F BHO SA 1155 CLR 25 050/39/31/2020G28/968/ FEW AC DSNT ESE-S LT DSNT HZ/ PK WND 2028/48/ 8/070 56030 10041 20039   10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cirrus, few altocumulus distant NW-N, few cirrocumulus W-NNW Temperature: 47F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: SSW at 23G31 kts, Wind: Peak wind of 31 kts from the SSW at 9:51 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.65 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly Visibility: 55 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 240 SCT 55 040/47/27/2123G31/965 FEW AC DSNT NW-N FEW CC W-NNW LT DSNT HZ/ PK WND 2131/51/ 8/049 56010       1 P.M. Weather: Broken cirrus, scattered cumulus and stratocumulus, cirrostratus layer W-N Temperature: 52F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: WSW at 28G41 kts, Wind: Peak wind of 41 kts. from the WSW at 12:53 P.M. Wind: Direction variable SSW-W Sea-level pressure: 29.56 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly  Visibility: 50 miles, except 40 miles WNW-N, light distant haze 6-hour max temp: 52F 6-hour min temp: 39F BHO SA 1755 060 SCT E240 BKN 50 009/52/24/2428G41/956/ CS LYR W-N LT DSNT HZ VSBY 40 WNW-N PK WND 2441/53 WND 20V28/ 8/802 56031 10052 20039   WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, JANUARY 19   TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....47      NORMAL.....33 MIN.....21      NORMAL.....17                         MEAN....34      NORMAL.....25   DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+9 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+145 [+7.4 DEGREES/DAY]   HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............31    DEPARTURE..........-9 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........604    DEPARTURE........-144 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........2632    DEPARTURE........-420 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2401    DIFFERENCE.......+231   PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............46 SSW AT  2:55  P.M.                    AERO....................45 SSW AT  3:07  P.M. *                    ASOS....................48 SW  AT  3:57  P.M.                    DAVIS...................46 SSW AT  10:13 A.M. RMY 48 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............35 SSW AT  9:27  A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............35 SSW AT  10:14 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............35 W   AT  10:14 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........22.3 SSW                    ASOS..................21.9                    DAVIS.................20.7 SSW  [206 deg.]  * last of several occurrences...   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M... 0.00   DEPARTURE..........-0.13                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.63   DEPARTURE..........-2.07                          ASOS..............0.60 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.63   DEPARTURE..........-2.07                          ASOS..............0.60   SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.0   DEPARTURE............-0.6 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............3.6   DEPARTURE............-7.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............19.0   DEPARTURE............-7.7      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/+14/0.00/0.0/548/98    47 WNW AERO 48 MPH WNW RMY 50 1/11  38/29/34/+9/0.15/0.0/050/09     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/0.0/175/31       36 S   AERO 37 MPH S   RMY 39 1/15  40/33/37/+12/T/0.0/045/08       17 N   AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY 17 1/16  33/29/31/+6/0.45/3.5/000/00     16 NNE AERO 14 MPH N   RMY 15 1/17  39/28/34/+9/0.00/0.0/.../..     36 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/18  28/16/22/-3/0.00/0.0/.../..     39 NW  AERO 39 MPH NW  RMY 43 1/19  47/21/34/+9/0.00/0.0/.../..     46 SSW AERO 45 MPH SSW RMY 48    1/20 morning low temp: 37F; 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 20 HIGH 59F IN 1951 LOW -9F IN 1901 PRECIP 1.95 INS. IN 1978 SNOWFALL 19.0 INS. IN 1978 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PEAK GUST 76e MPH NE IN 1978   RECORDS FOR JANUARY 21 HIGH 65F IN 1906 LOW -4F IN 1888,1893 PRECIP 2.49 INS. IN 1979 SNOWFALL 7.6 INS. IN 2011 PEAK GUST 78e MPH SE IN 1979   TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Forrest Iwanik and Jonathan O'Brien