BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA
 
DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2013
ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME
 
LOW CLOUDS AND FOG ENVELOPE SUMMIT EARLY TODAY
LOW TEMPERATURES CONTINUE WELL ABOVE THE NORMALS
AS OCTOBER CONTINUES OVER 4 DEGREES ON MILD SIDE
TODAY MARKS 20TH CONSECUTIVE DAY AT OR ABOVE NORMAL
LONG-TERM DRY WEATHER PATTERN CONTINUES
 
Low stratus clouds formed overnight into early this
morning and enveloped the summit in fog with visibility
dropping down to 1/16 mile for a while. Soon, though,
the clouds lifted but a dense layer of cirrus and
cirrostratus clouds were allowing only a little
briefly dim sunshine.
Later, by early afternoon, an overcast of altostratus
allowed the sun to be only dimly visible.  Virga also
was observed. 
 
Once again we had a milder than normal night last
night lasting into this morning with our minimum
temperature of 49F running some 6 degrees above
the average for the date. Today will mark the 20th
consecutive day (starting back on Sept. 27th) that
our average daily temperatures have all been at
or above normal which included 5 days which averaged
right on the normal.  In other words, there have been no
days which have averaged cooler than normal now extending
back just about 3 weeks.
 
The dry weather pattern continues.  A good example of
how dry it has been includes; only 3 inches of rainfall
has occurred at my Hingham, MA NWS cooperative station 
since August 9.
Normal for this period would be 9 inches. This
represents only about a third of normal.  
 
Today's Observations:
 
7 A.M.
Weather:  Obscurement with fog, heavy fog, sun dimly visible past
hour, heavy dew, condensation
Temperature: 51F; Dew Point: 51F; Wind: BBE @ 6 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.14 ins. Hg, falling then rising
Visibility: 1/16 in heavy fog
6-hr min temp: 49F
BHO SA 1155 W3 X 1/16F 206/51/51/0306/014/ SUN DMLY
VSB PST HR HVY DEW/CONDENSATION/ 8//// 55007
10052 20049
 
10 A.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus (2 layers, lowest at 7 hundred ft.)
broken altocumulus, overcast dense cirrus/cirrostratus, overcast
partly thin and small break in overcast overhead thru WSW-NW
Temperature: 57F; Dew Point: 54F; Wind: NE at 6 kts
Sea-level pressure: 30.09 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly
Visibility: 20 miles, except 15 miles SW-NW, thin fog,
and 25 miles NE-SE, hazy
BHO SA 1455 E7 BKN 32 BKN 180 BKN 200 OVC 20 189/57/54/0506/009/
THN SPTS/FEW BINOVC OVHD-WSW-NW VSBY LWR SW-NW 15 THN F NE-SE 25
HAZY/ 8/537 58017
 
1 P.M.
Weather: Scattered stratocumulus at one thousand feet,
overcast altostratus with virga all quadrants, higher clouds
visible distant S-SW, and bright spots in overcast distant
S-SW 
Temperature: 58F; Dew Point: 54F; Wind: NE at 5 kts.
Sea-level pressure: 30.03 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly
Visibility: 20 miles, hazy, except 45 miles WNW  
6-hr max temp: 60F
BHO SA 1755 10 SCT E130 OVC 20 168/58/54/0505/003/ VIRGA ALQDS
BRGHT SPTS IOVC DSNT S-SW/HIER CLDS VSB DSNT S-SW SUN DMLY VSB
VSBY WNW 45 HAZY ALQDS/ 8/51/ 58021 10060 20051 
 
WEATHER SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013
 
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....66    NORMAL.....61
MIN.....50    NORMAL.....43
MEAN....58    NORMAL.....52
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+6
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+70  [+4.5 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..........0
TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........701   DEPARTURE........+99
TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......767   DIFFERENCE.......-66
 
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN)
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............7   DEPARTURE.........-3
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............93   DEPARTURE........-71
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........239   DEPARTURE........-67
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......248   DIFFERENCE........-9
 
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................16 ESE AT  5:18 P.N. *
                   AERO.......................16 ESE AT  5:16 P.M. *
                   ASOS.......................17 ESE AT  5:15 P.M.
                   DAVIS......................15 E   AT  5:03 P.M. RMY N/A
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................12 ESE AT  5:08 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................13 ESE AT  5:41 P.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................13 E   AT  5:19 P.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............5.8 ESE
                   ASOS......................5.8
                   DAVIS.....................5.6 E [100 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..........0.92   DEPARTURE.............-1.30
                         ASOS..............0.91
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........42.84   DEPARTURE.............+1.54
                         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 61/46/54/0/0.00/095/14          18 NE  AERO 17 MPH NE  RMY 18
10/11 67/50/59/+6/0.00/473/70         20 NE  AERO 20 MPH NE  RMY N/A
10/12 59/50/55/+2/0.02/007/01         30 ENE AER0 31 MPH ENE RMY 32
10/13 59/46/53/0/0.00/482/72          23 ENE AERO 23 MPH ENE RMY 23
10/14 64/42/53/+1/0.00/.../..         15 SSW AERO 15 MPH SSW RMY 15
10/15 66/50/58/+6/0.00/.../..         16 ESE AERO 16 MPH ESE RMY N/A
 
10/16 the morning low temp: 49F; the normal low is now 43F
 
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 16
HIGH 86F IN 1897
LOW 28F IN 1886
PRECIP 2.82 INCHES IN 1974
SNOWFALL TRACE IN 2009
PEAK GUST 68e MPH SSE IN 1954 (HURRICANE HAZEL)
 
RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 17
HIGH 86F IN 1947
LOW 25F IN 1886
PRECIP 1.87 INCHES IN 1989
SNOWFALL TRACE IN 1970
PEAK GUST 55 MPH NE IN 1964
 
TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling