BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME CLOUDY AND BREEZY WITH AFTERNOON DRIZZLE TODAY The sky has been cloudy for most of today, with only a few peaks of sunshine this morning. Temperatures are running below where they were yesterday, with a high temperature through 1:00 PM of 59F, which is a few degrees below the average high temperature for today's date of 62F. The temperature has fallen some since mid-morning as the clouds have thickened further. This morning's low of 52F was well above the average low of 44F, and October continues to run over 5 degrees above average so far. Winds have been breezy at times out of the NE, with a peak gust of 30mph this morning and an average speed of near 15mph, making it feel a little cooler than it actually is outside. The NE wind direction off the ocean has helped to hold down the temperature and keep the low clouds in place. There was some thin fog around this morning, which generally held the visibility to 20 miles or less, and some thicker fog has developed this afternoon which has reduced visibilities beneath 5 miles. Despite the fact that a low pressure area has been sitting off the Mid-Atlantic coast for the past few days, no measurable precipitation has been recorded here so far, though some light drizzle began early this afternoon. The lack of precipitation is a result of high pressure to our north. The pressure gradient between the high and low pressure has helped to raise our wind speed today. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratus, broken altocumulus, stratus fractus drifting over summit, thin fog/haze all quadrants, sun occasionally dimly visible, heavy dew/condensation all surfaces Temperature: 56F; Dew Point: 55F; Wind: NE at 13G18 kts, Wind: Direction variable NNE-E Sea-level pressure: 30.25 ins. Hg, rising Visibility: 8 miles, except 2 miles NNW-NNE, 20 miles E-SE 6-hr min temp: 52F BHO SA 1155 E3 BKN 100 BKN 8 243/56/55/0513G18/025/ STFRA DRFTNG OVR SMT THN FG/HZ ALQDS SUN OCNLY DMLY VSBL HVY DEW/CONDENSATION ALL SFCS VSBY NNW-NNE 2 E-SE 20 WND 02V09/ 8/650 52020 10056 20052 10 A.M. Weather: Scattered stratus fractus, overcast stratocumulus, thin fog and haze all quadrants Temperature: 57F; Dew Point: 54F; Wind: ENE at 13G23 kts, Wind: Direction variable NE-E Sea-level pressure: 30.31 ins. Hg, rising then rising more slowly Visibility: 15 miles, except 30 miles ESE-S BHO SA 1455 6 SCT E20 OVC 15 264/57/54/0713G23/031/ THN FG/HZ ALQDS VSBY ESE-S 30 WND 04V10/ 8/5// 51021 1 P.M. Weather: Light drizzle, overcast stratus and stratus fractus, rain showers all quadrants Temperature: 55F; Dew Point: 55F; Wind: ENE at 11G18 kts, Wind: Direction variable NE-E Sea-level pressure: 30.25 ins. Hg, rising then falling Visibility: 3 miles, fog 6-hr max temp: 59F 6-hr precip: Trace BHO SA 1755 E9 OVC 3L-F 245/55/55/0611G18/025/ SHRA ALQDS WND 03V10/ 8/700 50002 MANUAL 6000/ 10059 20055 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2013 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....67 NORMAL.....62 MIN.....50 NORMAL.....45 MEAN....59 NORMAL.....53 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+6 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+61 [+5.3 DEGREES/DAY] COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC) TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............0 DEPARTURE..........0 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..............5 DEPARTURE.........+1 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........701 DEPARTURE.......+100 TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......766 DIFFERENCE.......-65 HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............6 DEPARTURE.........-6 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............46 DEPARTURE........-60 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........192 DEPARTURE........-57 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......192 DIFFERENCE........+6 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................20 NE AT 8:15 A.M. AERO.......................20 NE AT 8:15 A.M. ASOS.......................20 NE AT 8:32 A.M. DAVIS......................19 NNE AT 8:11 A.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................14 NNE AT 11:40 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................14 NNE AT 11:53 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................14 NNE AT 8:13 A.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............10.1 NNE ASOS......................9.4 DAVIS.....................9.1 NE [039 degrees] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00 DEPARTURE.............-0.15 ASOS..............0.00 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.90 DEPARTURE.............-0.73 ASOS..............0.89 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........42.82 DEPARTURE.............+2.11 ASOS..............N/A* *ASOS malfunctioned during storm on 2/8-9, leading to erroneous totals PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 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 10/1 75/50/63/+6/0.00/676/96 16 WNW AERO 16 MPH WNW RMY 18 10/2 78/56/67/+10/0.00/666/95 29 W AERO 30 MPH W RMY 29 10/3 77/56/67/+11/0.00/628/90 20 WNW AERO 20 MPH WNW RMY N/A 10/4 67/56/62/+6/0.26/028/04 18 NW AERO 20 MPH NW RMY N/A 10/5 67/56/62/+6/0.01/125/18 14 ENE AERO 12 MPH ENE RMY N/A 10/6 58/53/56/+1/0.56/000/00 20 NE AERO 20 MPH NE RMY N/A 10/7 75/57/66/+11/0.07/213/31 48 S AERO 55 MPH S RMY 55 10/8 65/50/58/+4/0.00/581/85 25 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY 28 10/9 59/49/54/0/0.00/545/80 25 ENE AERO 24 MPH ENE RMY 25 10/10 61/46/54/0/0.00/.../.. 18 NE AERO 17 MPH NE RMY 18 10/11 67/50/59/+6/0.00/.../.. 20 NE AERO 20 MPH NE RMY N/A 10/12 the morning low temp: 52F; the normal low is now 44F DAILY RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 2013 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 12 HIGH 87F IN 1954 LOW 31F IN 1906 PRECIP 1.53 INCHES IN 1948 SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1941 PEAK GUST 55 MPH NW IN 1963 RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 13 HIGH 84F IN 1930, 1954 LOW 29F IN 2012 PRECIP 5.92 INCHES IN 1895 SNOWFALL 4.2 INCHES IN 1934 PEAK GUST 46e MPH W IN 1950 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Jonathan O'Brien