BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015      ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME   WINDS RELAX OVERNIGHT, MOSTLY CLOUDY AND COOL CONDITIONS FOR MONDAY....NORTHERN SHORE OF HOUGHTON'S POND NOW OPEN WATER, CURRENTLY TIED FOR 8TH LATEST THAW DATE ON RECORD, PONKAPOAG POND REMAINS FROZEN AND ALSO AMONG LATEST THAWS Mostly cloudy skies and slightly below normal temperatures  have characterized today and yesterday, with a maximum temperature of 47F for Easter Sunday. An overnight low of 33F, just one degree below today's daily normal minimum temperature.  By the 1:00 PM EST observation skies were still mostly cloudy with thin layers allowing some sunlight. Visibility had improved since this morning's light haze and thin fog, and a maximum temperature of 48F had been reached.   Recent warm temperatures and rainfall have melted almost all of the remaining snow cover on the summit. The northern shoreline of Houghton's Pond is now open water, with the pond still 90% frozen, and this date is already tied for 8th place on the list of latest thaws for Houghton's Pond. Only a mile away, the larger Ponkapoag Pond is still 100% frozen in appearance from the summit. As of today, April 6th, this is already among the top 3 latest thaws on record for that pond.  The month of March averaged 4.3 degrees colder than normal, and also finished 2.33 inches of total liquid precipitation drier than normal. Snowfall however, was just about normal, with 13.3 inches falling, just 0.6 inches above the norm. Seasonal snowfall was a new record at 150.8 inches.  A cold March along with an even colder January through February have resulted in the coldest start to any year since 1934, and the third coldest average minimum temperature on record: BHO Coldest Jan-Mar Mean Temperature, deg F (1885-2015) 1) 21.4 in 1885 2) 22.1 in 1923 3) 22.8 in 1904 4) 23.2 in 1888 5) 23.5 in 1920    23.5 in 1934 7) 23.6 in 1893    23.6 in 1912 9) 23.8 in 2015 10) 24.2 in 1916 BHO Coldest Jan-Mar Average Minimum Temperature, deg F (1885-2015) 1) 13.4 in 1885 2) 14.9 in 1923 3) 15.0 in 2015 4) 15.2 in 1888    15.2 in 1934 6) 15.3 in 1904 7) 16.6 in 1920 8) 16.7 in 1912 9) 16.8 in 1887    16.8 in 1893 BHO Greatest Seasonal Snowfall, inches (1885-2015): 1) 150.8 in 2014-2015 (through 1 PM April 4th) 2) 144.4 in 1995-1996 3) 136.0 in 1947-1948 4) 119.4 in 2004-2005 5) 113.1 in 2002-2003 6) 111.5 in 1915-1916 7) 109.6 in 1966-1967 8) 106.8 in 1955-1956 9) 103.4 in 1903-1904 10)102.5 in 1922-1923 Latest Houghton's Pond Thaw Date, (1886-2015) 1) April 14, 1926 2) April 10, 1887    April 10, 1888 4) April 9, 1923 5) April 8, 1993 6) April 7, 1899    April 7, 1956 8) April 6, 1916    April 6, 1917    April 6, 1924    April 6, 1940    April 6, 2015 13) April 5, 1895     April 5, 1920     April 5, 1941     April 5, 1969     April 5, 1994 Latest Ponkapoag Pond Thaw Date, (1886-2015) 1) April 10, 1926 2) April 9, 1923 3) April 6, 1940 April 6, 2015 5) April 5, 1916    April 5, 1924 7) April 4, 1967    April 4, 1994 -------------------------------------------------------  PRELIMINARY STATS FOR MARCH 2015 TEMPERATURE, Deg. F Avg. Max. 39.6 [-4.8] Avg. Min. 22.8 [-3.8] Mean      31.2 [-4.3] Corrected mean: 31.0 Max. for month: 55 on 3/11 Min. for month:  5 on 3/6 HEATING DEGREE DAYS  Total heating units: 1035 [+119]     Total for the season: 5743 [+259] Total for last season: 5627 PRECIPITATION, Inches Total: 3.25 [-2.33] Greatest in 24 hrs: N/A SNOWFALL, Inches Total: 13.3 [+0.6] Greatest in 24 hrs: N/A WIND, mph Avg. uncorrected wind speed: 13.0 Avg. corrected wind speed: 13.4 Prevailing wind direction: NW @ 16% Peak gust and direction: 53 NW on the 17th SUNSHINE: Astronomical total minutes:   11107/22218 or 50% Campbell-Stokes card minutes: 10758/21516 or 50% For more information about this historic winter, visit our  web site at bluehill.org.   ------------------------------------------------------- Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Thin overcast of altocumulus, few stratocumulus ESE Temperature: 38F; Dew Point: 24F; Wind: estimated NE at 3 kts Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.39 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly Visibility: 40 miles, except 25 miles SE-SSW, thin fog and hazy   6-hr Max temp: 38F 6-hr Min temp: 24F 6-hr precip: none  24-hr precip: none Snow depth: Trace   BHO SA 1155 E90 -OVC 40 292/38/24/E0403/039/ VSBY SE-SSW 25 MI FEW SC ESE THN FG ALQDS HAZY ALQDS WND LGT/ 8/53/ 51015 10038 20033 10 A.M.  Weather: Thin overcast of altostratus, few altocumulus ESE Temperature: 44F; Dew Point: 22F; Wind: estimated SSE at 4 kts, Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.39 ins. Hg, rising, then falling and lower Visibility: 70 miles, light distant haze  BHO SA 1455 E130 -OVC 70 291/44/22/E1504/039/ FEW AC ESE LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS WND LGT/ 8/01/ 58001  1 P.M. Weather: Broken cirrus, few cumulus ESE-SW, few altocumulus ESE Temperature: 47F; Dew Point: 31F; Wind: NE at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.32 ins. Hg, falling, then more quickly Visibility: 50 miles, light distant haze in all directions 6-hr Max temp: 48F 6-hr Min temp: 38F  BHO SA 1755 E250 -BKN 50 266/47/31/0508/032/ FEW CU ESE-SW FEW AC ESE LGT DSNT HZ ALQDS/ 8/10 58025 10048 20038 SUMMARY FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....47   NORMAL.....51 MIN.....30   NORMAL.....34 MEAN....39   NORMAL.....43 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.......................-4 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.......................+3 [+0.4 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............26  DEPARTURE...........+4 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............114  DEPARTURE...........-2      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5857  DEPARTURE.........+257 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......5738  DIFFERENCE........+119 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................40 W   AT 11:51 A.M.                     ASOS.......................44 W   AT 11:41 A.M.                       DAVIS......................42 WSW AT 11:37 A.M.  RMY 45 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................33 W   AT 11:48 A.M.   MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................32 W   AT 11:49 A.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................31 W   AT 11:49 A.M.      AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............14.1 WSW                      ASOS.....................14.0                        DAVIS....................12.5 WSW [254 degrees]  * 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...........0.34  DEPARTURE.....-0.51                            ASOS...............0.34  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........14.93  DEPARTURE.....+0.21                          ASOS................N/A ***  *** ASOS annual totals not available due to erroneous readings SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M...........0.0  DEPARTURE.....-0.1 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH.................0.0  DEPARTURE.....-0.9 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............150.8  DEPARTURE....+90.2  PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH AND APRIL CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOWFALL/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/RMY GUST RMY:  R.M. Young wind gust recording system  TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 3/1  29/14/22/-9/..../.../000/00              25 SSW RMY 25 3/2  35/22/29/-2/..../.../480/71              44 WNW RMY 48 3/3  32/13/23/-9/..../2.8/340/50              33 S   RMY N/A 3/4  41/32/37/+5/..../.../000/00              33 SW  RMY 36   3/5  36/16/26/-6/0.02/0.2/000/00              28 NW  RMY 29 3/6  26/5/16/-16/0.00/0.0/681/99              28 NW  RMY 25 3/7  38/13/26/-7/0.00/0.0/567/82              30 WSW RMY 30  3/8  41/25/33/0/T/T/208/30                    38 WNW RMY 41 3/9  45/28/37/+4/0.00/0.0/565/81              40 W   RMY 39 3/10 52/32/42/+9/..../0.0/252/36              28 S   RMY 27 3/11 55/38/47/+13/..../0.0/604/86             37 WNW RMY N/A 3/12 38/23/31/-3/0.00/0.0/677/96              44 N   RMY 48 3/13 40/18/29/-5/0.00/0.0/581/82              23 SSW RMY 26 3/14 41/29/35/0/0.84/0.0/000/00               23 SSW RMY 23 3/15 41/24/33/-2/0.03/0.6/021/03              39 NW  RMY 39 3/16 44/23/34/-1/0.00/0.0/516/72              28 NW  RMY N/A 3/17 48/25/37/+1/0.17/T/173/24                53 NW  RMY 63 3/18 30/19/25/-11/0.00/0.0/700/97             51 NW  RMY 56 3/19 31/15/23/-13/0.00/0.0/696/96             37 NW  RMY 39   3/20 32/19/26/-11/..../.../102/14             17 NNW RMY 15 3/21 41/25/33/-4/..../.../000/00              36 WNW RMY N/A  3/22 36/17/27/-10/0.00/0.0/712/97             50 W   RMY 55 3/23 31/14/23/-15/0.00/0.0/700/95             36 WNW RMY 35 3/24 39/16/28/-10/0.00/0.0/636/86             20 NNW RMY N/A 3/25 48/25/37/-1/0.08/0.0/572/77              32 S   RMY 31 3/26 54/35/45/+6/..../.../052/07              32 SSW RMY 32 3/27 41/36/39/+0/..../0.0/000/00              22 NNE RMY N/A 3/28 36/26/31/-8/0.44/5.0/000/00              30 NNW RMY 30 3/29 40/21/31/-9/0.00/0.0/701/93              26 NW  RMY N/A 3/30 43/28/36/-4/T/T/091/12                   36 SSW RMY 39 3/31 46/32/39/-2/0.00/0.0/479/63              28 W   RMY 30 4/1  44/26/35/-6/0.00/0.0/.../..              30 WNW RMY 31  4/2  59/29/44/+3/T/0.0/.../..                 39 SSW RMY 43  4/3  56/47/52/+10/0.02/0.0/.../..             36 SW  RMY N/A 4/4  49/32/41/-1/..../0.0/.../..              54 NW  RMY 64 4/5  47/30/39/-4/..../0.0/.../..              40 W   RMY 45 4/6  low since midnight is 33F normal low is 34F DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2015 3/28- NEW RECORD DAILY SNOWFALL: 5.0 INCHES;       surpasses the previous record of 3.0 ins. in 1932 DAILY RECORDS FOR APRIL 2015 4/3 - NEW RECORD DAILY HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE: 47F       surpasses the previous record of 46F in 1892 DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):   RECORDS FOR APRIL 6 HIGH 82 IN 1921 LOW 16 IN 1982 PRE 1.72 INS IN 1886 SNOW 12.3 INS IN 1982 WIND 71e MPH WNW IN 1940 RECORDS FOR APRIL 7 HIGH 90 IN 2010 LOW 13 IN 1982 PRECIP 1.72 IN. IN 1924 SNOWFALL 4.5 IN. IN 1967, 1996 PEAK GUST 65 MPH WNW IN 1982 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald