BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME THIRD GREATEST MARCH SNOWSTORM ENDS ON FRIDAY... LARGE OCEAN STORM MOVES OUT TO SEA LEAVING SUNNY BUT COOL CONDITIONS WITH LIGHTER ONSHORE WINDS... SECOND SNOWSTORM OF TWO FEET OR MORE OF THE SEASON... The three-day snowstorm that began as a few rain showers early on Wednesday before turning to snow later than day finally ended later afternoon on Friday. The storm total snowfall of 29.8 inches is the third greatest snowstorm in March and the fifth greatest for any month. This is the first time that two snowfalls of 25 inches or more have occurred in a single winter season in the 128-year record of the Observatory. The seasonal snow total is now over 91 inches, though this is not among the ten highest seasonal totals. The liquid equivalent precipitation for the recent storm was 3.44 inches, since Wednesday. Excluding 0.07 inch that fell as rain, the snow to liquid equivalent ratio for the storm was about 9:1. Blue Hill Greatest Snowstorms, inches, (1885-2013): 1) 38.7 on Feb 24-28, 1969 2) 30.3 on Mar 3-5, 1960 3) 30.1 on Feb 6-7, 1978 4) 30.0 on Mar 31 - Apr 1, 1997 5) 29.8 on Mar 6-8, 2013 6) 26.6 on Feb 8-9, 2013 7) 24.7 on Feb 17-18, 2003 Greatest March Snowstorms, inches (1885-2013) 1) 30.3 on 3-5 Mar, 1960 2) 30.0 on 31 Mar-1 Apr, 1997 3) 29.8 on 6-8 Mar, 2013 4) 23.0 on 5-7 Mar, 2001 5) 19.5 on 19-20 Mar, 1956 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS TONIGHT...Remember to turn clocks ahead one hour as we return to Daylight Saving Time. Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few altocumulus distant ENE-SE Temperature: 30F; Dew Point: 21F; Wind: NNE at 13G20 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.21 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 70 miles, visibility NE-SE 50 miles 24-hour precip.: 1.08 inches 24-hour snowfall: 9.6 inches BHO SA 1155 CLR 70 230/30/21/0213G20/021/ FEW AC DSNT ENE-SE VSBY NE-SE 50 TOTAL NEW SNW PST 24 HRS 9.6 INS/ 8/030 4/019 53020 70108 10033 20029 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratocumulus Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 27F; Wind: NNE at 15G22 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.26 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 75 miles, visibility NE-ESE 55 miles BHO SA 1455 20 SCT 75 246/36/27/0315G22/026/ VSBY NE-ESE 55/ 8/500 51016 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus distant NE-SE, few cirrus distant ENE-ESE Temperature: 38F; Dew Point: 38F; Wind: NE at 10 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 70 miles, visibility NNE-SE 55 miles 6-hour max. temp: 39F BHO SA 1755 CLR 70 249/38/38/0410/027/ FEW SC DSNT NE-SE FEW CI DSNT ENE-ESE VSBY NNE-SE 55/ 8/501 50003 10039 20030 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 8 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....37 NORMAL.....42 MIN.....28 NORMAL.....24 MEAN....33 NORMAL.....33 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL........................0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+22 [+2.6 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............33 DEPARTURE.............0 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........241 DEPARTURE...........-23 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4361 DEPARTURE..........-471 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3887 DIFFERENCE.........+474 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............41 NNE AT 4:59 P.M. AERO....................39 NNE AT 4:51 P.M. ASOS....................48 NE AT 4:55 P.M. DAVIS...................46 NNE AT 4:55 P.M. RMY 45 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............28 NNE AT 5:32 P.M. * MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............30 NE AT 5:01 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............28 NNE AT 4:16 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........18.4 N ASOS..................18.1 DAVIS.................16.9 N [008 deg] * Last of several occurrences... PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....1.08 DEPARTURE...........+0.90 ASOS..............1.19 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.45 DEPARTURE...........+2.06 ASOS..............3.69 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........11.84 DEPARTURE...........+2.03 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.........9.6 DEPARTURE............+9.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............30.0 DEPARTURE...........+25.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............91.2 DEPARTURE...........+40.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 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 3/1 39/33/36/+5/0.00/0.0/.../.. 25 NNW AERO 24 MPH NNW RMY 28 3/2 42/30/36/+5/0.00/0.0/.../.. 18 NW AERO 16 MPH NW RMY 21 3/3 42/30/36/+4/0.01/0.2/.../.. 17 WNW AERO 15 MPH WNW RMY N/A 3/4 39/26/33/+1/T/T/.../.. 32 NW AERO 33 MPH WNW RMY 37 3/5 43/30/37/+5/0/0/.../.. 27 WNW AERO 24 MPH WNW RMY N/A 3/6 37/33/35/+3/.../.../000/00 47 NE AERO 46 MPH NE RMY 51 3/7 34/29/32/-1/.../.../000/00 45 NE AERO 45 MPH NE RMY 47 3/8 37/28/33/0/.../../000/00 41 NNE AERO 39 MPH NNW RMY 45 3/9 the morning low temp: 29F; the normal low is now 24F DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2013 None so far. Calendar day precipitation and snowfall amounts for 3/7 and 3/8 are under review. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 9 HIGH 71 IN 2000 LOW 1 IN 2007 PRECIP 2.67 INS. IN 1998 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 2001 PEAK GUST 102e MPH S IN 1942 [RECORD FOR MONTH] RECORDS FOR MARCH 10 HIGH 69 IN 1977 LOW 2 IN 1984 PRECIP 2.00 INS. IN 1994 SNOWFALL 4.0 INS. IN 1997 PEAK GUST 80 MPH NW IN 1974 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Mike Iacono / Peter Volpe