BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015  ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME FREEZING FOG WEDNESDAY WARMS TO THICK FOG THIS MORNING AFTER OVERNIGHT RAIN SHOWERS, SUNSHINE BY MID MORNING TODAY Yesterday's mean temperature of 29F (+2) continued a streak of warmer than normal temperatures, which now stands at 29 consecutive days. The last day of the year has so far remained above the freezing mark, and will likely close out the month and year above normal as well. Stay tuned for monthly and  annual statistics that will likely confirm this December as the warmest on record. Overnight, rain showers brought 0.16 inches of new precipitation, further reducing this month's deficit to 0.48 inches below normal. Thick fog reduced visibility to 1/8 of a mile this morning  and dissipated by 9:00 AM EST. By the 1:00 PM EST skies were mostly cloudy with broken stratocumulus above. Visibility had improved to 65-75 miles in all directions with some thin fog still visible over the mountains to the WSW-NW. The maximum  temperature recorded so far was 44F, some 9 degrees above today's daily normal maximum temperature. BHO Latest First Measurable Snowfall, (1885-2015) 1) January  13, 2000  (7.0 inches) 2) January   1, 1954  (0.8 inches) 3) December 29, 1941  (0.4 inches) December 29, 2015  (1.3 inches) 5) December 22, 1998  (0.6 inches) 6) December 16, 1973  (0.4 inches) 7) December 15, 1891  (0.3 inches)  BHO Largest December Daily Temperature Departure, deg F (1885-2015): 1) +35 on 29 Dec 1984 (72/51/62) 2) +30 on 25 Dec 2015 (64/52/58) 3) +29 on 23 Dec 1990 (62/53/58)    +29 on 24 Dec 2015 (67/48/58) 5) +27 on 31 Dec 1965 (62/45/54)    +27 on 22 Dec 1990 (58/53/56) 7) +26 on 27 Dec 1949 (57/51/54)    +26 on 9 Dec 1966 (68/52/60)    +26 on 6 Dec 2001 (70/52/61) Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Thick fog Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 34F; Wind: NNW @ 10 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.01 ins. Hg, falling, then rising but lower still Visibility: 1/8 of a mile, thick fog 6-hr Max temp: 38F  6-hr Min temp: 32F 24-hr precip: 0.16 ins. 24-hr snowfall: Trace  BHO SA 1155 W2 X 1/8F 163/34/34/3310/001/ NEW SNW PST 24 HRS TRACE/  8//// 55001 ASOS 60007 70017 MANUAL 70016 10038 20032 10 A.M. Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus/cumulus in all directions, few altocumulus distant E-SSw, few cirrostratus distant E-SW, thin fog in all directions Temperature: 38F; Dew Point: 37F; Wind: WNW @ 8 kts, Sea-level pressure: 30.02 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly   Visibility: 30 miles, except 8 miles ESE-SSW, thin fog BHO SA 1455 CLR 30 166/38/37/3008/002/ VSBY ESE-SSW 8 MI  FEW SC/CU ALQDS FEW AC DSNT E-SSW FEW CS DSNT E-SW  THN FG ALQDS/ 8/538 51003 1 P.M. Weather: Broken stratocumulus  Temperature: 42F; Dew Point: 37F; Wind: WNW @ 12 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.96 ins. Hg, rising, then falling and lower Visibility: 75 miles, except 65 miles WSW-NW, thin fog WSW-NW 6-hr Max temp: 44F 6-hr Min temp: 34F 6-hr precip: 0.00 6-hr snowfall: 0.0 BHO SA 1755 E16 BKN 75 147/42/37/3012/996/  VSBY WSW-NW 65 MI THN FG WSW-NW/ 8/500 58019 10044 20034 SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015    TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....34   NORMAL.....35 MIN.....23   NORMAL.....19  MEAN....29   NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL......................+2 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+377  [+12.4 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............36   DEPARTURE..........-2 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............626   DEPARTURE........-379 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........1628   DEPARTURE........-639 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......2016   DIFFERENCE.......-388 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...................17  SSE AT 11:55 P.M.                     ASOS........................17  NNW AT  6:08 A.M.                      DAVIS.......................15  SE  AT 10:37 P.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.....................13  SSE AT 11:56 P.M.     MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..................15  E   AT  8:05 P.M.   MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.................13  SE  AT 10:39 P.M.   AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...............3.4 N                    ASOS........................6.9                       DAVIS.......................3.0 ENE [060 Deg.]  PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.16  DEPARTURE......+0.02                          ASOS...............0.17 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH...........4.27  DEPARTURE......-0.48                          ASOS...............4.34 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........43.69  DEPARTURE......-9.60                            ASOS................N/A *** *** ASOS annual total not available due to erroneous readings SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M........TRACE  DEPARTURE.......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................1.3  DEPARTURE......-11.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON...............1.3  DEPARTURE......-14.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER CALENDAR DAY DATA   DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/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 12/1  42/30/36/-1/0.16/0.0/000/00           19 NNE RMY 19 12/2  53/37/45/+9/0.20/0.0/000/00           25 SSE RMY 25 12/3  53/37/45/+9/0.01/0.0/162/29           43 WNW RMY 42 12/4  47/32/40/+5/0.00/0.0/444/80           32 NW  RMY 32 12/5  50/33/42/+7/0.00/0.0/548/99           21 W   RMY N/A 12/6  57/35/46/+11/0.00/0.0/531/96          22 SW  RMY N/A 12/7  54/37/46/+12/0.00/0.0/353/64          31 NE  RMY N/A 12/8  42/35/39/+5/0.01/0.0/000/00           32 NE  RMY 31 12/9  44/34/39/+5/..../0.0/044/08           28 SSE RMY N/A 12/10 57/41/49/+16/T/0.0/209/38             29 SE  RMY N/A 12/11 56/44/50/+17/0.00/0.0/049/09          28 SSW RMY 28 12/12 59/46/53/+20/0.00/0.0/367/67          23 W   RMY N/A  12/13 54/44/49/+17/0.00/0.0/000/00          18 ESE RMY 19 12/14 60/43/52/+20/..../0.0/000/00          32 S   RMY N/A 12/15 61/45/53/+21/..../0.0/371/68          48 W   RMY 51  12/16 45/34/40/+9/0.00/0.0/415/76           25 N   RMY N/A 12/17 53/36/45/+14/..../0.0/000/00          29 SE  RMY 28 12/18 50/35/43/+12/..../0.0/000/00          29 NW  RMY 30 12/19 38/30/34/+4/0.00/0.0/.../..           39 W   RMY 40 12/20 40/28/34/+4/0.00/0.0/.../..           24 W   RMY N/A 12/21 51/31/41/+11/T/0.0/.../..             38 SSW RMY 42 12/22 57/49/53/+24/0.28/0.0/000/00          35 SW  RMY 35 12/23 56/47/52/+23/..../0.0/.../..          30 E   RMY 27  12/24 67/48/58/+29/..../0.0/.../..          37 SSW RMY 39   12/25 64/52/58/+30/..../0.0/.../..          23 N   RMY N/A 12/26 53/40/47/+19/..../0.0/.../..          26 NNW RMY N/A 12/27 52/35/44/+16/..../0.0/000/00          36 NW  RMY 33 12/28 35/27/31/+3/T/T/.../..                33 NW  RMY 33 12/29 38/23/31/+4/..../1.3/000/00           35 ENE RMY 35 12/30 34/23/29/+2/..../T/000/00             17 SSE RMY N/A 12/31 low since midnight is 32F; normal low is now 19F   DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2015 **12/13/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 44F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 43F SET IN 1919, TIED 1983 **12/24/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 67F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 61F SET IN 2014 **12/24/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 48F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 46F SET IN 1900 **12/25/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 64F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 62F SET IN 1889 **12/25/2015- NEW DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 52F, BREAKS PREVIOUS RECORD OF 46F SET IN 1964 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):  RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 31 HIGH 62 IN 1965 LOW -12 IN 1917 PRECIP 0.96 INS. IN 1906 SNOWFALL 7.5 INS. IN 2008 PEAK GUST 78 MPH NW IN 1990 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 1 HIGH 58F IN 1966 LOW -6F IN 1918 PRECIP 1.45 INS. IN 1982 SNOWFALL 7.2 INS. IN 1938 PEAK GUST 90e MPH S IN 1945 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald