BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA   DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   SUNSHINE AND TURNING MUCH MILDER TODAY SOUTH-SOUTHWEST WINDS IMPORTING WARMER AIR MASS SNOW MELTDOWN 3 INCHES PER DAY PAST TWO DAYS    Sunshine has become filtered through middle and high cloudiness by this afternoon and virga can be seen hanging from some of the cloud bases. Temperatures have risen to the upper 40's with south to south-southwest winds and sunshine limited by high clouds.   THIRD GREATEST MARCH SNOWSTORM ENDS ON FRIDAY... 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 that day finally ended in the late afternoon Friday.  The storm total snowfall of 29.8 inches is the third greatest snowstorm on record 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 starting Wednesday was 3.44 inches. Excluding the 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   Today's observations:   7 A.M.  Weather: Overcast stratus Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 33F; Wind: SSW  at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, falling slightly   Visibility: 12 miles, thin fog 6-hr min. temp: 32F Snow depth: 13 inches BHO SA 1155 E6 OVC 12 252/34/33/2111/027/ THN F ALQDS/ 8/6// 4/013 56002 10034 20032    10 A.M.  Weather: Scattered opaque cirrus, scattered thin cirrus, stratus E-S, scattered altocumulus/altocumulus lenticularis WSW-N   Temperature: 42F; Dew Point: 35F; Wind: SSW at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.27 ins. Hg, falling slightly  Visibility: 12 miles, thin fog, hazy  BHO SA 1455 220 SCT 250 SCT 300 SCT 12 249/42/35/2011/027/ FEW STRA E-S AC/ACSL WSW-N THN F NE-S-SW HAZY ALQDS/ 8/641 56003     1 P.M. Weather: Broken altocumulus (2 levels) overcast dense cirrus, virga  Temperature: 46F; Dew Point: 36F; Wind: S at 11 kts, Wind: Direction variable SE-SSW Sea-level pressure: 30.24 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly Visibility: 15 miles, except 25 miles WNW, hazy all quadrants 6-hour max. temp: 47F BHO SA 1755 E130 BKN 160 BKN 200 OVC 15 240/46/36/1811/024/ VIRGA BRGHT SPTS IOVC SUN OCNL DMLY VSB VSBY WNW 25 HAZY ALQDS WND 14V20/ 8/072 58009 10047 20034   WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 10 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....40     NORMAL.....42 MIN.....27     NORMAL.....25                          MEAN....34     NORMAL.....33     DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+1 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH......................+25 [+2.3 DEGREES/DAY]   HEATING DEGREE DAYS  TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............31   DEPARTURE............-1 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........302   DEPARTURE...........-26 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4422   DEPARTURE..........-473 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....3941   DIFFERENCE.........+481   PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............21 S   AT 10:17 P.M.                    AERO....................17 S   AT 10:17 P.M.                    ASOS....................22 S   AT 10:18 P.M.                    DAVIS...................21 S   AT 10:17 P.M. N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............16 S   AT 10:16 P.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............17 S   AT 10:18 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............17 SSE AT  8:52 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........9.1 N                    ASOS...................9.1                    DAVIS..................8.4 ENE [060 deg] * Last of several occurrences...   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00  DEPARTURE...........-0.18                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........3.45  DEPARTURE...........+1.70                          ASOS..............3.69 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........11.84  DEPARTURE...........+1.67                          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..............30.0   DEPARTURE...........+24.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............91.2   DEPARTURE...........+39.1   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   40/29/35/+2/0.00/0.0/.../..     29 N   AERO 23 MPH N   RMY 28 3/10  40/27/34/+1/0.00/0.0/.../..     21 S   AERO 17 MPH S   RMY N/A   3/11 the morning low temp: 32F; the normal low is now 25F   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 11 HIGH 65 IN 1967 LOW 4 IN 1939, 1960 PRECIP 2.11 INS. IN 1901 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 1934 PEAK GUST 66e MPH W IN 1980   RECORDS FOR MARCH 12 HIGH 72 IN 2012 LOW 2 IN 1885 PRECIP 2.87 INS. IN 1888 SNOWFALL 9.7 INS. IN 1959 PEAK GUST 66 MPH SE IN 1962   TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling