BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME MOSTLY CLOUDY AND COOLER WITH A FEW SHOWERS A period of light rain showers began late last night and produced a scant 0.01 inch of rain very early today. More light showers began early this afternoon but so far are very light. Today may have a mean temperature which is again slightly milder than normal as has happened during the past two days after we concluded a stretch of 12 cooler than normal days. BLUE HILL SNOWIEST MARCHES, INCHES (1885-2013) 1) 52.0 in 1956 2) 42.2 in 1916 3) 41.4 in 2001 4) 41.0 in 1967 5) 37.8 in 2013 (through 700 A.M. EST on 3/28/2013) 6) 35.5 in 1993 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratus fractus, broken stratocumulus, overcast stratocumulus, higher clouds visible distant SW-N-E, virga distant ESE-SE, light drizzle ended past hour Temperature: 36F; Dew Point: 32F; Wind: NNW at 9 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.91 ins. Hg, rising then more rapidly Visibility: 55 miles, lower NE-S, light distant haze, lower in precipitation ESE-SE 6-hour min. temp: 35F 6-hour precip: 0.01 in. 6-hour snowfall: none Snow depth: trace (scattered patches) (large patch in clearing NE) BHO SA 1155 14 SCT E20 BKN 30 OVC 55 130/36/32/3409/991/ HIER CLD VSB DSNT SW-N-E VIRGA DSNT ESE-SE LE30 VSBY LWR NE-S/PCPN LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/5// 53014 MANUAL 6001/ ASOS 60001 MANUAL 70001 ASOS 70001 10037 20035 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered cumulus/stratocumulus, scattered stratocumulus cumulogenitus, dark bases, moderate tops, overcast altocumulus, small breaks in overcast mostly NE-SE Temperature: 45F; Dew Point: 29F; Wind: NNE at 6 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, rising then more slowly Visibility: 75 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 25 SCT 45 SCT E75 OVC 75 141/45/29/0306/995/ MDT CU/SCCU/ MDT TPS DRK BASES SE-SW-N SML BINOVC MSTLY NE-SE HIER CLD VSB DSNT NE-SE WND LGT DSNT HZ/ 8/23/ 51011 1 P.M. Weather: Overcast stratocumulus, virga all quadrants Temperature: 43F; Dew Point: 28F; Wind: ENE at 5 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, steady Visibility: 70 miles, virga, light distant haze, mountain in cloud and virga 70 miles NW 6-hour max. temp: 46F BHO SA 1755 E42 OVC 70 142/43/28/0605/995/ VIRGA ALQDS MTN INCLD/VIRGA 70 NW WND LGT/ 8/4// 50001 10046 20036 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....52 NORMAL.....48 MIN.....30 NORMAL.....30 MEAN....41 NORMAL.....39 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+2 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.......................-5 [-0.4 DEGREE/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............24 DEPARTURE............-2 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........818 DEPARTURE............+2 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........4938 DEPARTURE..........-445 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....4187 DIFFERENCE.........+751 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............30 NNW AT 10:13 P.M. AERO....................30 NNW AT 10:13 P.M. ASOS....................30 NNW AT 10:13 P.M. DAVIS...................29 NW AT 4:26 P.M. RMY: 30 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............23 NW AT 4:29 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............22 NW AT 4:29 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............21 NW AT 4:28 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.........12.3 NW ASOS..................11.3 DAVIS.................10.8 NW [314 deg] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.01 DEPARTURE...........-0.18 ASOS..............0.01 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.64 DEPARTURE...........+0.77 ASOS..............5.80 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........14.03 DEPARTURE...........+0.74 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............-0.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............37.8 DEPARTURE...........+26.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............99.0 DEPARTURE...........+40.5 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/+5/0.00/0.0/047/07 25 NNW AERO 24 MPH NNW RMY 28 3/2 42/30/36/+5/0.00/0.0/400/59 18 NW AERO 16 MPH NW RMY 21 3/3 42/30/36/+4/0.01/0.2/034/05 17 WNW AERO 15 MPH WNW RMY N/A 3/4 39/26/33/+1/T/T/328/48 32 NW AERO 33 MPH WNW RMY 37 3/5 43/30/37/+5/0/0/123/18 27 WNW AERO 24 MPH WNW RMY N/A 3/6 37/33/35/+3/0.19/0.3/000/00 47 NE AERO 46 MPH NE RMY 51 3/7 34/29/32/-1/1.36/11.5/000/00 45 NE AERO 45 MPH NE RMY 47 3/8 37/28/33/0/1.89/18.0/000/00 41 NNE AERO 39 MPH NNW RMY 45 3/9 40/29/35/+2/0.00/0.0/677/97 29 N AERO 23 MPH N RMY 28 3/10 40/27/34/+1/0.00/0.0/372/53 21 S AERO 17 MPH S RMY N/A 3/11 50/32/41/+7/0.00/0.0/099/14 27 S AERO 25 MPH S RMY N/A 3/12 52/39/46/+12/0.51/0.0/000/00 45 S AERO 46 MPH S RMY 47 3/13 50/33/42/+8/T/0.0/674/95 32 WNW AERO 32 MPH WNW RMY 34 3/14 34/20/27/-8/0.00/0.0/014/02 37 W AERO 37 MPH NW RMY 38 3/15 39/17/28/-7/0.00/0.0/408/57 35 NW AERO 37 MPH W RMY 34 3/16 39/25/32/-3/0.00/0.0/352/49 23 NW AERO 18 MPH WNW RMY 20 3/17 38/23/31/-5/0.00/0.0/665/95 32 WNW AERO 28 MPH WNW RMY 34 3/18 37/16/27/-9/0.14/1.1/557/77 27 NNW AERO 23 MPH NNW RMY N/A 3/19 35/26/31/-5/1.45/5.8/000/00 42 E AERO 39 MPH E RMY 43 ` 3/20 37/22/30/-7/0.00/0.0/628/86 37 W AERO 33 MPH W RMY 38 3/21 36/27/32/-5/0.03/0.3/154/21 15 NNW AERO 8 MPH NW RMY N/A 3/22 39/26/33/-4/0.00/0.0/492/67 30 W AERO 29 MPH W RMY 34 3/23 41/28/35/-3/0.00/0.0/649/88 40 W AERO 38 MPH W RMY 42 3/24 45/28/37/-1/0.00/0.0/704/95 29 WNW AERO 28 MPH WNW RMY N/A 3/25 40/31/36/-2/T/T/.../.. 33 NNE AERO 31 MPH NE RMY 38 3/26 48/31/40/+1/0.05/0.6/.../.. 25 NW AER0 23 MPH N RMY 25 3/27 52/30/41/+2/T/0.0/.../.. 30 NNW AERO 30 MPH NNW RMY 30 3/28 the morning low temp: 35F; the normal low is now 31F DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2013 3/7 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL OF 11.5 INCHES; surpasses the previous record of 11.1 inches in 1967 3/8 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL OF 18.0 INCHES; surpasses the previous record of 8.3 inches in 1941 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR MARCH 28 HIGH 86 IN 1998 LOW 7 IN 1923 PRECIP 2.31 INS. IN 1932 SNOWFALL 3.0 INS. IN 1932 PEAK GUST 60e MPH NW IN 1944, 60 WSW IN 1991 RECORDS FOR MARCH 29 HIGH 85 IN 1945 LOW -2 IN 1923 PRECIP 2.78 INS. IN 1984 SNOWFALL 13.5 INS. IN 1984 PEAK GUST 95 MPH ENE IN 1984 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling