BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME BLUE SKIES AND WARMING TEMPERATURES HELP AID THE DIG OUT ON GREAT BLUE HILL Clear skies began today, with an overnight low  of 11F. A large inversion was in place just a couple hundred feet below the summit, and just over 3 miles away at Norwood Memorial Airport, a minimum of -16F was recorded. The inversion continued late into the morning under very calm winds.  By the 1:00 PM EST observation cirrostratus were beginning to invade in the distance from SW-NW. Visibility had improved to 70 miles in all directions and the inversion had begun to lift. It was 32F at 1:00 PM EST at both Norwood Airport along with Great Blue Hill, the maximum for the day so far. Snow for January is now up to 40.7 inches, which moves  January 2015 into 8th place for snowiest January. With more snow forecast for tomorrow, we can still stand to move further up the list: 1) 56.3 in 1948 2) 48.2 in 2011 3) 48.0 in 1904 4) 47.6 in 1996 5) 46.0 in 1966 6) 44.8 in 2005 7) 44.5 in 1923 8) 40.7 in 2015 9) 38.3 in 1987 10) 35.6 in 1978   Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear, few cirrus overhead, inversion present, top estimated at 400 feet over city north and all directions Temperature: 12F; Dew Point: -3F; Wind: NNW at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.29 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly                     Visibility: 35 miles, obscured by thin fog/haze below inversion 6-hr max temp: 12F 6-hr min temp: 11F 24-hr precip: 0.00 in.  24 hr snowfall: 0.0 ins.  Total snow on ground: 22 inches  BHO SA 1155 CLR 35 257/12/-3/3411/029/ FEW CI OVHD  INVSN PRSNT ESTMD TOP 4 HND OVR CTY N AND ALQDS/  8/001 4/022 51005 10012 20011 10 A.M.  Weather: Clear, few cirrus in all directions, inversion present, estimated top 300 feet over city north and all directions Temperature: 25F; Dew Point: 2F; Wind: estimated NNE at 3 kts Wind Speed: Light Sea-level pressure: 30.32 ins. Hg, rising, then steady        Visibility: 60 miles 3-hr precip: 0.00  3-hr snowfall 0.0  BHO SA 1455 CLR 60 269/25/2/E0203/032/ FEW CI ALQDS INVSN PRSNT ESTMD TOP 3 HND OVR CTY N AND ALQDS WND LGT/ 8/001 51012 1 P.M.  Weather: Scattered cirrus fibratus, few cirrostratus distant SW-NW, few stratocumulus distant offshore E Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 17F; Wind: estimated E at 2 kts, Wind Speed: Light  Sea-level pressure: 30.25 ins. Hg, steady, then falling  Visibility: 70 miles 6-hr max. temp: 32F 6-hr min. temp: 17F 6-hr precip: 0.00 ins 6-hr snowfall: 0.0 ins BHO SA 1755 250 SCT 70 243/32/17/E0802/025/ FEW SC DSNT OFFSHR E FEW CS DSNT SW-NW/ 8/505 58026 10032 20012   SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....22   NORMAL.....34 MIN......8   NORMAL.....17 MEAN....15   NORMAL.....25 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.........................-10 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.........................-44 [-1.8 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............50  DEPARTURE..........+10 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............1153  DEPARTURE..........+45      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........3213  DEPARTURE.........-199 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......3339  DIFFERENCE........-176 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................30 NW    AT 12:22 A.M.                       ASOS.......................MISSING**                     DAVIS......................28 NW    AT  9:01 A.M. RMY 29 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................22 NW    AT 12:35 A.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................MISSING**     MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................19 NW    AT 12:23 A.M.     AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............13.4 NW                      ASOS.....................MISSING**                        DAVIS....................11.4 NW [317 degrees]  * last of several occurrences... ** ASOS WIND SENSOR FAILED APPROXIMATELY 4:00 AM EST 1/27/15   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.00  DEPARTURE.....-0.13                           ASOS..............0.06 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........5.04  DEPARTURE.....+1.10                           ASOS..............5.36   TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........5.04  DEPARTURE.....+1.10                          ASOS..............5.30   SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0  DEPARTURE......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............40.7  DEPARTURE.....+25.2 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............51.7  DEPARTURE.....+20.2   PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 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 1/1  31/18/25/-2/0.00/0.0/544/99              29 SSW RMY 30  1/2  37/26/32/+5/0.00/0.0/314/57              35 WSW RMY 38 1/3  34/21/28/+2/0.67/2.5/017/03              25 SE  RMY 26    1/4  51/33/42/+16/0.48/0.0/000/00             30 SSW RMY N/A 1/5  46/13/30/+4/0.00/0.0/542/98              48 W   RMY 54 1/6  15/10/13/-13/0.02/0.4/000/00             29 W   RMY N/A 1/7  22/01/12/-14/0.01/0.3/394/71             43 WNW RMY 47   1/8  16/-5/6/-20/0.00/0.0/539/97              39 WNW RMY N/A  1/9  27/16/22/-4/0.08/0.9/201/36              35 WSW RMY 38   1/10 22/11/17/-8/0.00/0.0/541/97              26 WNW RMY 27 1/11 31/9/20/-5/45/0.00/0.0/123/22            26 SSW RMY N/A  1/12 36/31/34/+9/0.23/T/000/00                29 NNW RMY N/A 1/13 33/11/22/-3/0.00/0.0/524/93              30 NNW RMY 29 1/14 22/11/17/-8/T/T/000/00                   18 NNW RMY 16 1/15 27/20/24/-1/0.09/0.8/000/00              20 WSW RMY 22  1/16 35/12/24/-1/T/T/341/60                   46 WSW RMY 50 1/17 21/5/13/-12/0.00/0.0/558/98              30 WNW RMY N/A  1/18 50/19/35/+10/0.16/0.0/000/00             47 SE  RMY 52 1/19 44/28/36/+11/T/0.0/304/53                33 W   RMY 36 1/20 36/23/30/+5/0.00/0.0/495/86              28 W   RMY 28 1/21 30/17/24/-1/0.00.0.0./358/62             21 WNW RMY N/A  1/22 36/25/31/+6/T/T/.../..                   20 WNW RMY 20  1/23 36/18/27/+2/0.00/0.0/.../..              25 SSW RMY 26 1/24 32/27/30/+5/0.84/5.0/000/00              24 SSW RMY N/A 1/25 34/17/26/+1/0.00/0.0/.../..              31 W   RMY 33 1/26 26/9/18/-7/0.50/5.6/.../..               45 N   RMY N/A 1/27 17/10/14/-11/1.94/25.2/000/00            51 N   RMY 52 1/28 22/8/15/-10/T/T/.../..                   30 NW  RMY N/A 1/29 morning low temp: 11F since midnight; normal low is now 17F DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2015 -NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 27 JANUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 25.2 INS. IN 2015 [NEW RECORD FOR THE MONTH] DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):      RECORDS FOR JANUARY 29 HIGH 66F IN 2002 LOW -11F IN 1888 PRECIP 1.48 INS. IN 1973 SNOWFALL 8.0 INS. IN 1943 PEAK GUST 72 MPH NW IN 1973 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 30 HIGH 60F IN 1914 LOW -8F IN 1948 PRECIP 1.12 INS. IN 1925 SNOWFALL 6.5 INS. IN 1986 PEAK GUST 76 MPH WNW IN 1962 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald