BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2015    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME UNSEASONABLE COLD REMAINS, LIGHT SNOW BEGINS AFTER 9:00 AM EST Yesterday's midnight to midnight average temperature was just 5F above zero, 23 degrees below the norm. With yesterday's cold taken into consideration, Blue Hill is now nearly 12 degrees below the norm for  temperature so far this month with the end of the month fast approaching.  Temperatures dipped overnight once more with this morning's minimum temperature reading of 5F above  zero under overcast skies. Very light snow began to fall just prior to 9:30 AM EST, with only a trace recorded by the 10:00 AM EST observation.  By 1:00 PM, more continuous light snow had accumulated 0.9 inches of new snow, while the sun was dimly visible. A maximum temperature of 17F had been recorded by that time. Snow for the season now totals 126.1 inches, placing this season at Blue Hill firmly in third place on the list of snowiest seasons. Following last weekend’s storm, February 2015 is also the snowiest February on record, as well as the snowiest month on record. This latest storm has also made it onto the list of  single greatest storm totals in February and all time. See below: BHO Greatest Snowstorms, inches (1885-2015): 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.8 on 26-28 Jan, 2015 3) 30.3 on 3-5 Mar, 1960 4) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 5) 30.0 on 31 Mar - 1 Apr, 1997 6) 29.8 on 6-8 Mar, 2013 7) 27.7 on 7-10 Feb, 2015 8) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 9) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 10) 24.3 on 5-7 Dec, 2003 11) 23.0 on 5-7 Mar, 2001 12) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 13) 21.6 on 14-15 Feb, 2015 14) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 BHO Greatest February Snowstorms, inches (1885-2015): 1) 38.7 on 24-28 Feb, 1969 2) 30.1 on 6-7 Feb, 1978 3) 27.7 on 7-10 Feb, 2015  4) 26.6 on 8-9 Feb, 2013 5) 24.7 on 17-18 Feb, 2003 6) 22.2 on 16-17 Feb, 1958 7) 21.6 on 14-15 Feb, 2015 8) 21.0 on 9-10 Feb, 1969 BHO Snowiest February, inches (1885-2015): 1) 72.2 in 2015 (through Feb 17 at 1:00 PM EST) 2) 65.4 in 1969 3) 51.3 in 2003 4) 45.2 in 1967 5) 40.4 in 1920 6) 39.7 in 2013 7) 37.0 in 1893 BHO Snowiest January-February, inches (1886-2015): 1) 115.1 in 2015 (through Feb 17 at 1:00 PM EST) 2) 77.9 in 1948 3) 70.2 in 2005 4) 68.7 in 1904 5) 67.5 in 1920 6) 66.9 in 1994 BHO Greatest Snow Depth, inches (1895-2015): 1) 46 in February 2015 2) 43 in March 1969 3) 42 in January 1948 4) 41 in February 1969 5) 39 in February 1948 6) 38 in February 1920    7) 33 in February 1978    33 in January 1996 9) 31 in February 2003    31 in February 2011 11)30 in March 1960    30 in March 1978 Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus Temperature: 9F; Dew Point: -4F; Wind: estimated NNW at 3 kts, Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.98 ins. Hg, falling, then rising Visibility: 35 miles, except 25 miles E-WSW 6-hr max temp: 9F 6-hr min temp: 5F 24-hr precip: none 24 hr snowfall: none Snow depth: 42 inches  BHO SA 1155 E100 OVC 35 154/9/-4/E3403/998/ VSBY E-WSW 25 MI WND LGT/ 8/02/ 4/042 55002 ASOS 70122 10009 20005 10 A.M.  Weather: Very light snow, begins 9:29 AM EST, overcast stratus Temperature: 12F; Dew Point: 0F; Wind: estimated NW at 5 kts Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 29.95 ins. Hg, rising, then falling Visibility: 8 miles, except 10 miles NNW-NE, obscured by light snow 3-hr precip: Trace 3-hr snowfall: Trace BHO SA 1455 E60 OVC 8S- 141/12/0/E3105/995/ S-B29 VSBY NNW-NE 10 MI PRCP VRY LGT NEW SNW PST 3 HRS TRACE WND LGT/ 8/6// 58013 MANUAL 6000/ 1 P.M.  Weather: Very light snow, sun dimly visible, overcast stratus Temperature: 17F; Dew Point: 12F; Wind: NNW at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.87 ins. falling then more slowly    Visibility: 1/2 of a mile, obscured by light snow 6-hr max temp: 17F 6-hr min temp: 8F 6-hr precip: 0.05 inches 6-hr snowfall: 0.9 inches BHO SA 1755 E30 OVC 1/2S- 116/17/12/3408/987/ SUN DMLY VSBL NEW SNW PST 3 HRS 0.9 INS/ 8/6// 56025 ASOS 60005 MANUAL 60005 10017 20008 SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....17   NORMAL.....37 MIN.....-8   NORMAL.....19 MEAN.....5   NORMAL.....28 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........................-23 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..........................-176 [-11.9 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............60  DEPARTURE..........+23 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............786  DEPARTURE.........+175      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........4134  DEPARTURE...........-8 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4142  DIFFERENCE.........-12 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................43 NW  AT 12:33 A.M.                       ASOS....................... MISSING **                    DAVIS......................47 WNW AT  1:21 A.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................36 NW  AT 12:33 A.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE................. MISSING **     MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................32 NW  AT 12:34 A.M.       AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............20.7 NW                        ASOS..................... MISSING **                       DAVIS....................18.0 NW [313 degrees]  * last of several occurrences... **ASOS SENSOR CURRENTLY DOWN   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00  DEPARTURE.....-0.14                          ASOS..............N/A *** TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.47  DEPARTURE.....+3.26                           ASOS...............N/A ***   TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........10.64  DEPARTURE.....+4.21                          ASOS...............N/A ***  *** ASOS February and annual totals not available due to erroneous readings on February 9-10th and 16th. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............71.3  DEPARTURE.....+63.4 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............125.2  DEPARTURE.....+84.2   PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 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 2/1  28/8/18/-8/0.00/0.0/.../..               29 WNW RMY N/A 2/2  29/8/19/-7/1.53/16.5/000/00              44 NE  RMY 46 2/3  21/0/11/-15/0.00/0.0/.../..              31 NW  RMY N/A             2/4  36/14/25/-1/0.00/0.0/.../..              31 S   RMY 33 2/5  34/4/19/-7/0.15/3.5/.../..               38 NW  RMY 39 2/6  19/-2/9/-17/0.00/0.0/.../..              28 NW  RMY 27     2/7  25/14/20/-7/..../.../.../..              25 WSW RMY N/A 2/8  29/11/20/-7/..../.../000/00              30 NNE RMY 29 2/9  19/12/16/-11/..../.../000/00             29 N   RMY 28 2/10 28/12/20/-7/..../.../.../..              29 N   RMY 29 2/11 24/15/20/-7/0.03/1.4/.../..              30 N   RMY 29 2/12 28/14/21/-6/0.02/0.6/.../..              31 NW  RMY N/A 2/13 20/2/11/-17/0.00/0.0/.../..              35 NW  RMY 35 2/14 26/1/14/-14/..../.../.../..              24 NW  RMY N/A 2/15 18/-6/6/-22/..../.../.../..              53 NW  RMY 59 2/16 17/-8/5/-23/0.00/0.0/.../..              43 NW  RMY N/A 2/17 morning low temp: 5F since midnight, normal low is now 19 DAILY RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 2015 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 2 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 16.5 INS. surpasses previous record:  5.5 ins. in 1916, 1934 DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):                                                                                   RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 17 HIGH 61F IN 1981 LOW -16F IN 1896 PRECIP 1.86 INCHES IN 2003 SNOWFALL 20.0 INCHES IN 2003 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NW IN 1968 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 18 HIGH 65F IN 1981 LOW -10F IN 1958 PRECIP 1.97 INCHES IN 1887 SNOWFALL 9.2 INCHES IN 1952 PEAK GUST 70 MPH S IN 2008 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald