BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME TEMPERATURE REACHES 55F BY 1:00 PM EST, WARMEST SINCE CHRISTMAS DAY Above average temperatures returned on Tuesday, with sunshine through a thin veil of cirrostratus. A  maximum of 52F was record on either side of the 1:00 PM EST observation, the warmest reading since December 25th when a maximum of 61F was recorded. Light rain entered the region last night, wrapping up before sunrise and bringing 0.11 inches of new rain. Rain, coupled with an overnight low of 39F and fog, brought down the snow pack on the summit from 31 inches yesterday morning, to 27 inches by 7:00 AM today.  By the 1:00 PM EST observation a maximum reading of 55F had been recorded, under broken high cirrus. Hazy conditions were also present with visibility limited to just 35 miles. Seasonal snowfall has now reached 143.4 inches, just 1.0 inch below the snowiest season on record set in 1995-1996. For more information about this historic  winter, visit our web site at bluehill.org. The average snow depth has fallen to 31 inches as of this morning. This is the 36th consecutive day with 20 inches  or more of snow on the ground which is firmly in second place all time.  The record is 53 days set back in 1948.    BHO Greatest Seasonal Snowfall, inches (1885-2015): 1) 144.4 in 1995-1996 2) 143.4 in 2014-2015 (through 1 PM March 11th) 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 BHO Longest Duration of 20"+ Snow Depth, (1885-2015): 1) 53 days, 27 Dec, 1947 - 17 Feb, 1948 2) 37 days, 3 Feb - 11 Mar, 2015 (through 1 PM March 11th) 3) 34 days, 5 Feb - 9 Mar, 1920    34 days, 7 Feb - 12 Mar, 1978 5) 23 days, 25 Feb - 19 Mar, 1969 6) 21 days, 27 Jan - 16 Feb, 2011 7) 11 days, 15-25 Mar, 1916    11 days, 5-15 Jan, 1961 Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken cirrus fibratus, intermittent fog Temperature: 40F; Dew Point: 40F; Wind: W at 15 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.83 ins. Hg, rising slightly Visibility: 1/2 of a mile varying to 15 miles, obscured by intermittent fog 6-hr Max temp: 40F 6-hr Min temp: 39F 24-hr snowfall: None 24-hr precip: 0.11 inches Snow depth: 27 inches  BHO SA 1155 -X E200 BKN 1/2F 100/40/40/2615/983/  VSBY 1/2V15 MI FG INTMT/ 8/601 4/027 51001  ASOS 60001 70012 MANUAL 70011 10040 20039 10 A.M.  Weather: Scattered cirrus fibratus, few cirrostratus distant ESE-W Temperature: 48F; Dew Point: 40F; Wind: W at 13 kts Sea-level pressure: 29.83 ins. Hg, rising, then falling Visibility: 35 miles, hazy BHO SA 1455 250 SCT 35 102/48/40/2613/983/  FEW CS DSNT ESE-W HAZY/ 8/001 50002 1 P.M. Weather: Broken cirrus Temperature: 54F; Dew Point: 30F; W at 16G26 kts Peak Wind: 32 knots W @ 12:29 PM EST Sea-Level Pressure: 29.82 ins. Hg, falling, then rising Visibility: 35 miles, hazy 6-hr Max temp: 55F 6-hr Min temp: 40F BHO SA 1755 E250 BKN 35 099/54/30/2816G26/982/  HAZY PK WND 2932/29/ 8/001 55003 10055 20040   SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....52   NORMAL.....42 MIN.....32   NORMAL.....25 MEAN....42   NORMAL.....33 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL............................+9 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........................-31 [-3.0 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............23  DEPARTURE...........-9 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............359  DEPARTURE..........+31      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5067  DEPARTURE.........+172 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4975  DIFFERENCE.........+92 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................28 S   AT  3:01 P.M.                    ASOS.......................27 S   AT  3:01 P.M.                     DAVIS......................26 S   AT  2:24 P.M. RMY 27 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................21 S   AT  5:45 P.M.*  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................21 S   AT  8:45 P.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................20 S   AT  5:44 P.M.        AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............13.1 S                      ASOS.....................13.4                       DAVIS....................12.0 SW [215 degrees]  * last of several occurrences..   PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.11  DEPARTURE.....-0.07                          ASOS..............0.12 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.75  DEPARTURE.....-1.00                            ASOS..............0.78  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........12.09  DEPARTURE.....+2.05                          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......-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH................5.9  DEPARTURE......+0.8 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............143.4  DEPARTURE.....+91.3  PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY/MARCH 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/-8/0.00/0.0/582/97               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/-15/0.00/0.0/593/98              31 NW  RMY N/A             2/4  36/14/25/-1/0.00/0.0/164/27              31 S   RMY 33 2/5  34/4/19/-7/0.15/3.5/000/00               38 NW  RMY 39 2/6  19/-2/9/-17/0.00/0.0/392/64              28 NW  RMY 27     2/7  25/14/20/-7/0.08/1.1/000/00              25 WSW RMY N/A 2/8  29/11/20/-7/0.78/12.2/000/00             30 NNE RMY 29 2/9  19/12/16/-11/1.59/13.6/000/00            29 N   RMY 28 2/10 28/12/20/-7/0.10/0.8/081/13              29 N   RMY 29 2/11 24/15/20/-7/0.03/1.4/000/00              30 N   RMY 29 2/12 28/14/21/-6/0.02/0.6/000/00              31 NW  RMY N/A 2/13 20/2/11/-17/0.00/0.0/630/100             35 NW  RMY 35 2/14 26/1/14/-14/0.36/7.2/241/38              24 NW  RMY N/A 2/15 18/-6/6/-22/0.81/14.4/000/00             53 NW  RMY 59 2/16 17/-8/5/-23/0.00/0.0/606/95              43 NW  RMY N/A 2/17 21/5/13/-15/0.12/2.0/064/10              18 NW  RMY 16 2/18 28/15/22/-7/0.01/0.4/039/06              17 W   RMY N/A 2/19 26/6/16/-13/0.10/3.7/116/18              40 W   RMY 43 2/20 15/0/8/-21/0.00/0.0/630/97               38 W   RMY 40 2/21 32/3/18/-11/..../.../462/71              39 SSW RMY 42 2/22 39/27/33/+4/..../.../327/50              25 WSW RMY N/A 2/23 28/1/15/-15/0.00/0.0/204/31              38 WNW RMY 44 2/24 18/-6/6/-24/..../.../574/87              26 S   RMY 27 2/25 32/11/22/-8/..../.../650/98              35 W   RMY 36 2/26 21/15/18/-12/0.04/0.6/000/00             25 NE  RMY 24 2/27 25/9/17/-14/0.00/0.0/669/100             20 NW  RMY N/A 2/28 30/5/18/-13/0.00/0.0/671/100             22 NW  RMY N/A 3/1  29/14/22/-9/..../.../.../..              25 SSW RMY 25 3/2  35/22/29/-2/..../.../.../..              44 WNW RMY 48 3/3  32/13/23/-9/..../2.8/.../..              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/.../..              28 NW  RMY 25 3/7  38/13/26/-7/0.00/0.0/.../..              30 WSW RMY 30  3/8  41/25/33/0/T/T/.../..                    38 WNW RMY 41 3/9  45/28/37/+4/0.00/0.0/.../..              40 W   RMY 39 3/10 52/32/42/+9/..../0.0/.../..              28 S   RMY 27 3/11 morning low temp: 39F since midnight, normal low is now 25F 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 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 9 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 13.6 INS. surpasses previous record: 13.0 ins. in 1969 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 15 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOWFALL 14.4 INS. surpasses previous record: 11.2 ins. in 1940 DAILY RECORDS FOR MARCH 2015 -NONE SO FAR DAILY EXTREMES  Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):   RECORDS FOR MARCH 11 HIGH 65 IN 1967 LOW 4 IN 1939, 1960 PRECIP 2.11 INS. IN 1901 SNOWFALL 6.3 INS. IN 1934 PEAK GUST 66e MPH W IN 1980 RECORDS FOR MARCH 12 HIGH 72 IN 2012 LOW 2 IN 1885 PRECIP 2.87 INS. IN 1888 SNOWFALL 9.7 INS. IN 1959 PEAK GUST 66 MPH SE IN 1962 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald