BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA

DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 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 21ST 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 with visibility
dropping down to 0 for a while. Soon, though,
the clouds lifted but a dense layer of cirrus and
cirrostratus clouds were allowing only dim sunshine.
Later afternoon the low clouds broke and we had some brighter
sunshine.
 
Once again we had a milder than normal night last
night lasting into this morning with our minimum
temperature of 52F running some 10 degrees above
the average for the date. Today will mark the 21st
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 heavy fog, heavy dew and condensation
Temperature: 55F; Dew Point: 55F; Wind: SW at 10 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.88 ins. Hg, steady 
Visibility: zero variable 1/16, heavy fog
6-hr min temp: 52F
BHO SA 1155 W1 X0VF 117/55/55/2210/988/ VSBY 0V1/16
HVY DEW/CONDENSATION/ 8//// 55000 10055 20052
 
10 A.M.
Weather: Overcast stratocumulus, few higher clouds visible,
breaks in the overcast  
Temperature: 64F; Dew Point: 58F; Wind: WSW at 9 kts
Sea-level pressure: 29.87 ins. Hg, falling slightly 
Visibility: 20 miles, hazy 
BHO SA 1455 E15 OVC 20 114/64/58/2409/987/ BINOVC
FEW HIER CLDS VSB HAZY/ 8/540 58003
 
1 P.M.
Weather: Broken stratocumulus
Temperature: 67F; Dew Point: 58F; Wind: SW at 8 kts.
Sea-level pressure: 29.82 ins. Hg, steady then decreasing
Visibility: 30 miles, hazy 
6-hr max temp: 68F
BHO SA 1755 E23 BKN 30 099/67/58/2308/982/ HAZY/
8/500 58015 10068 20055
 
WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2013
 
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
MAX.....60    NORMAL.....60
MIN.....49    NORMAL.....43
MEAN....55    NORMAL.....51
 
DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+4
TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.....................+74  [+4.4 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..............10  DEPARTURE.........-4
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............103  DEPARTURE........-75
TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON............249  DEPARTURE........-71
TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.......262  DIFFERENCE.......-13
 
PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)
PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................23 ESE AT  2:24 A.M. *
                   AERO.......................23 ESE AT  2:24 A.M. 
                   ASOS.......................24 ESE AT  2:30 A.M.
                   DAVIS......................22 ESE AT  2:23 A.M. RMY 23
FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................17 ESE AT  2:24 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................17 ESE AT  2:30 A.M.
MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................17 E   AT  2:25 A.M.
AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION.............6.6 NE
                   ASOS......................6.3
                   DAVIS.....................6.1 ENE [60 degrees]
* last of several occurrences....
 
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.............-1.45
                         ASOS..............0.91
TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........42.84   DEPARTURE.............+1.39
                         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/+1/0.00/580/87         15 SSW AERO 15 MPH SSW RMY 15
10/15 66/50/58/+6/0.00/266/40         16 ESE AERO 16 MPH ESE RMY N/A
10/16 60/49/55/+4/0.00/013/02         23 ESE AERO 24 MPH ESE RMY 23
 
10/17 the morning low temp: 52F; the normal low is now 42F
 
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 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
RECORDS FOR OCTOBER 18
 
HIGH 82F IN 1908
LOW 26F IN 1939
PRECIP 2.79 INCHES IN 1975
SNOWFALL 3.0 INCHES IN 2009
PEAK GUST 66 MPH S IN 1967
 
TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Kevin Pecora