BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA   DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013 EASTER SUNDAY ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   MARCH ENDING ON A WARM NOTE   Temperatures fell only to 37F at the summit this morning, despite falling below 30F in many nearby locations.  This was the result of a strong inversion.  The warm ending to March is continuing today, with temperatures climbing over 50F by mid morning and likely to approach 60F this afternoon.  Winds have gradually increased throughout the day after being very low last night and early this morning.  The thin cirrus clouds that have partially covered the sky so far today have allowed plenty of sunshine to filter through.   The warmth of the past few days has brought the average March temperature to slightly on the warm side of normal, and thanks to today's warmth the month will finish slightly above average. This month will also finish with above average precipitation, although the surplus from earlier this month has fallen in the past several days, with less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation received since March 20.  Some rainfall is expected tonight which could help to increase the surplus again. This month will likely finish as the fifth snowiest March on record, with 37.8 inches of snow received so far and no more expected today or tonight.   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 3/31/2013) 6) 35.5 in 1993   Today's observations:   7 A.M. Weather: Thin scattered cirrus, thin smoke layer NNW-NE Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: W at 3 kts, Wind: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.13 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 55 miles, light distant haze 6-hour min. temp: 37F BHO SA 1155 250 –SCT 55 202/40/20/2703/013/ THN K LYR NNW-NE LT DSNT HZ WND LGT/ 8/001 52004 10042 20037   10 A.M. Weather: Thin overcast cirrus, few lower cirrus, thin smoke layer N-NE Temperature: 54F; Dew Point: 20F; Wind: SSW at 8 kts, Wind: Direction variable SSE-WSW Sea-level pressure: 30.10 ins. Hg, falling then falling more slowly Visibility: 55 miles, light distant haze BHO SA 1455 250 –OVC 55 194/54/20/2008/010/ FEW LWR CI THN K LYR N-NE LT DSNT HZ WND 16V24 8/007 56008   WEATHER SUMMARY FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 30   TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....56     NORMAL.....49 MIN.....35     NORMAL.....31                          MEAN....46     NORMAL.....40     DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................+6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.......................+9 [+0.1 DEGREE/DAY]   HEATING DEGREE DAYS  TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............19   DEPARTURE.............-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........880   DEPARTURE............-12 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........5000   DEPARTURE...........-459 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....4258   DIFFERENCE..........+742   PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............25 WNW  AT   1:01 P.M.                    AERO....................20 WNW  AT   1:01 P.M. *                    ASOS....................25 NW   AT   1:26 P.M.                    DAVIS...................24 W    AT   12-1 P.M. RMY: 25 THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............17 WNW  AT   1:07 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............18 WNW  AT  12:50 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............18 WNW  AT   1-2  P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........8.8 NW                    ASOS...................8.2                    DAVIS..................8.1 NW [312 deg] *last of several occurrences   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00  DEPARTURE...........-0.17                          ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.64  DEPARTURE...........+0.24                          ASOS..............5.80 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........14.03  DEPARTURE...........+0.21                          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............-0.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............37.8   DEPARTURE...........+25.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............99.0   DEPARTURE...........+39.7   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/060/08          33 NNE AERO 31 MPH NE  RMY 38 3/26 48/31/40/+1/0.05/0.6/486/65     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 46/35/41/+2/0.01/0.0/.../..     23 NNW AERO 18 MPH NNW RMY N/A 3/29 56/35/46/+6/0.00/0.0/.../..     25 W   AERO 22 MPH NW  RMY 27 3/30 56/35/46/+6/0.00/0.0/.../..     25 WWN AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY 25   3/31 the morning low temp: 37F; the normal low is now 32F   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 31 HIGH 89 IN 1998 [RECORD HIGH FOR MONTH] LOW 16 IN 1923 PRECIP 2.89 IN 1987 SNOWFALL 15.0 IN 1997 PEAK GUST 81 MPH SSE IN 1987   RECORDS FOR APRIL 1 HIGH 74 IN 1967 LOW 6 IN 1923 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PRECIP 3.47 IN. IN 2004 [RECORD FOR MONTH] SNOWFALL 15.0 IN. IN 1997 [RECORD FOR MONTH] PEAK GUST 75 MPH SSW IN 1962   TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Jonathan O'Brien