BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME 0.9 INCH OF NEW SNOW IN ADDITION TO SOME LIGHT SLEET, FREEZING RAIN, AND RIME ICE; TEMPERATURES FINALLY WARMING UP Light snow that began Monday afternoon accumulated to 0.9 inch before changing to sleet and freezing rain/drizzle during the night. Light freezing rain created a thin layer of glaze on all surfaces last night and early this morning. Foggy conditions contributed to the formation of some light rime ice on surfaces as well this morning, giving the trees an especially a frosty look. The total precipitation that fell from snow, sleet, and freezing rain/drizzle amounted to 0.19 inch. Conditions have been quite calm today. Winds have generally been around just a few miles per hour. Fog has persisted, but a gradual improvement has been observed throughout the day. Temperatures are finally nearing the freezing mark, after being below freezing since the evening of the 20th (nearly 9 days). In fact, today will likely be the first above normal day since the 20th, breaking the recent cold streak that lasted for 8 days. Very warm temperatures are in the forecast for Wednesday, and we may be close to the record high for the date of 60F set in 1914. Well, January 2013 will not be the driest on record, with 0.94 inch of precipitation so far. But, it may still end in the top 10 driest Januarys, depending on how much rainfall we receive over the next couple of days. Driest Januarys, inches (1885-2012) 1) 0.89 in 1955 2) 0.97 in 1980 3) 1.00 in 1989 4) 1.07 in 1970 5) 1.25 in 1981 6) 1.31 in 1985 7) 1.72 in 2004 8) 1.80 in 1922 9) 1.84 in 1916 10) 1.96 in 1967 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Sky partially obscured by fog, overcast stratus, stratus occasionally drifting over/below summit, light glaze/rime ice on all surfaces, total new snow past 24 hours 0.9 inch Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: NNW at 7 kts. Sea-level pressure: 30.11 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 2 miles, fog Snow depth: 2 inches 24-hr snowfall: 0.9 inch 24-hr precip: 0.19 inch 6-hr precip: 0.01 inch 6-hr min temp: 25F BHO SA 1155 –X E3 OVC 2F 197/25/24/3307/011/ F8 STRA OCNLY DRFTNG OVR/BLO SMT LGT GLZ/RIME ALL SFCS TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 0.9 IN/ 8/6// 4/002 53020 MANUAL 60001 ASOS 60001 MANUAL 70019 ASOS 70016 10028 20025 10 A.M. Weather: Sky partially obscured by fog, broken stratus, overcast stratus Temperature: 28F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: NNW at 5 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.15 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 5 miles, fog 3-hr precip: Trace BHO SA 1455 –X E5 BKN 10 OVC 5F 211/28/27/3405/015/ F6 WND LGT/ 8/8// 51014 MANUAL 6000/ 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus, overcast stratus, thin fog all quadrants Temperature: 31F; Dew Point: 31F; Wind: Estimated NNW at 2 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.17 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 7 miles, thin fog all quadrants 6-hr precip: Trace 6-hr max temp: 31F BHO SA 1755 E5 BKN 10 OVC 7 216/31/31/E3302/017/ THN FG ALQDS WND LGT/ 8/8// 50005 MANUAL 6000/ 10031 20025 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 28 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....29 NORMAL.....34 MIN.....17 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....23 NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................-2 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+88 [+2.9 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............42 DEPARTURE..........+2 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..........1021 DEPARTURE.........-87 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3049 DEPARTURE........-363 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2691 DIFFERENCE.......+358 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............20 WNW AT 12:55 A.M. AERO....................14 WNW AT 12:55 A.M. ASOS....................17 WNW AT 12:56 A.M. DAVIS...................18 W AT 12:54 A.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............14 WNW AT 12:59 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............14 WNW AT 1:06 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............14 WNW AT 1:06 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........7.3 ESE ASOS...................7.0 DAVIS..................6.7 SW [217 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.19 DEPARTURE..........+0.06 ASOS..............0.16 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.94 DEPARTURE..........-3.00 ASOS..............0.88 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........0.94 DEPARTURE..........-3.00 ASOS..............0.88 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.9 DEPARTURE............+0.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............6.1 DEPARTURE............-9.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............21.5 DEPARTURE...........-10.0 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 RMY 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/+9/0.00/0.0/519/91 36 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/18 28/16/22/-3/0.00/0.0/566/99 39 NW AERO 39 MPH NW RMY 43 1/19 47/21/34/+9/0.00/0.0/350/61 46 SSW AERO 45 MPH SSW RMY 48 1/20 52/26/39/+14/0.00/0.0/408/71 48 SW AERO 52 MPH SW RMY 51 1/21 26/18/22/-3/0.06/0.9/144/25 35 WNW AERO 32 MPH WNW RMY N/A 1/22 23/10/17/-8/T/T/544/94 35 WNW AERO 30 MPH WNW RMY 35 1/23 15/4/10/-15/0.00/0.0/569/98 39 W AERO 35 MPH W RMY 37 1/24 17/0/9/-16/0.00/0.0/.../.. 43 WNW AERO 39 MPH WNW RMY 44 1/25 22/4/13/-12/0.05/0.6/.../.. 33 WNW AERO 27 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/26 23/9/16/-9/0.01/0.1/.../.. 35 WNW AERO 31 MPH WNW RMY 33 1/27 29/9/19/-6/0.00/0.0/.../.. 32 NW AERO 28 MPH NW RMY 31 1/28 29/17/23/-2/0.16/0.9/.../.. 20 WNW AERO 14 MPH WNW RMY N/A 1/29 morning low temp: 24F; 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 29 HIGH 66F IN 2002 LOW -11F IN 1888 PRECIP 1.48 INS. IN 1973 SNOWFALL 8.0 INS. IN 1943 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NW IN 1973 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 30 HIGH 60F IN 1914 LOW -8F IN 1948 PRECIP 1.12 INS. IN 1925 SNOWFALL 6.5 INS. IN 1986 PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1962 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Sean Fankhauser