BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY  MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015    ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME COLD AIR RETURNS, WINDS RAMP UP OVERNIGHT Following yesterday's second consecutive day of above normal temperatures, which peaked at 55F, the mercury slid through the night, dropping just below the freezing mark by sunrise. Winds have been gusting from the W-NW well into the 40 MPH range. Cool dry air has allowed for spectacular visibility today, with our maximum of 90 miles being reported. The summit of Grand Monadnock in Jaffrey, NH can be easily seen with the naked eye from our tower this morning. By the 1:00 PM EST observation clear, cold and gusty conditions remained, with a maximum reading of 36F since the 7:00 AM EST observation.  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 24 inches as of this morning. This is the 38th 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 12th) 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) 38 days, 3 Feb - 12 Mar, 2015 (through 1 PM March 12th) 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: Clear, few stratocumulus in all directions Temperature: 32F; Dew Point: 13F; Wind: NNW at 16G23 kts Peak Wind: 29 knots NW @ 06:27 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 29.21 ins. Hg, rising rapidly Visibility: 90 miles 6-hr Max temp: 37F 6-hr Min temp: 32F 24-hr snowfall: None 24-hr precip: None Snow depth: 24 inches  BHO SA 1155 CLR 90 229/32/13/3316G23/021/ FEW SC ALQDS PRESRR PK WND 3128/27/ 8/500 4/024 53068 10037 20032 10 A.M.  Weather: Clear, few stratocumulus overhead and in all directions Temperature: 33F; Dew Point: 17F; Wind: WNW at 18G26 kts Peak Wind: 28 knots WNW @ 9:26 AM EST Sea-level pressure: 30.31 ins. Hg, rising, then more slowly Visibility: 90 miles BHO SA 1455 CLR 90 263/33/17/3018G26/031/  FEW SC OVHD AND ALQDS PK WND 2928/26/ 8/500 51034 1 P.M. Weather: Clear, few cumulus W-E and overhead Temperature: 34F; Dew Point: 10F; WNW at 16G28 kts Peak Wind: 30 knots NW @ 12:07 PM EST Sea-Level Pressure: 30.28 ins. Hg, rising, then falling Visibility: 90 miles 6-hr Max temp: 36F 6-hr Min temp: 31F BHO SA 1755 CLR 90 255/34/10/3016G28/028/ FEW CU W-E AND OVHD PK WND 3230/07/ 8/100 50008 10036 20031   SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....55   NORMAL.....43 MIN.....38   NORMAL.....25 MEAN....47   NORMAL.....34 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL...........................+13 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH...........................-18 [-1.8 DEGREES/DAY]    HEATING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JUL TO JUN) TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..............18  DEPARTURE..........-13 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH.............377  DEPARTURE..........+18      TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...........5085  DEPARTURE.........+158 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE......4995  DIFFERENCE.........+90 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH)  PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY..................37 WNW AT  1:07 P.M.*                    ASOS.......................38 WNW AT  1:07 P.M.                     DAVIS......................37 WNW AT  1:08 P.M. RMY N/A FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY....................30 W   AT 12:29 P.M.  MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE.................29 W   AT 12:30 P.M.      MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE................25 W   AT 12:30 P.M.        AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION............15.4 W                      ASOS.....................15.1                       DAVIS....................13.4 W [266 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..........0.75  DEPARTURE.....-1.17                            ASOS..............0.78  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........12.09  DEPARTURE.....+1.88                          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......+0.3 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............143.4  DEPARTURE.....+90.8  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/-8/0.00/0.0/582/97               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/-11/1.61/14.0/000/00            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/-11/0.23/1.9/462/71              39 SSW RMY 42 2/22 39/27/33/+4/0.13/0.2/327/50              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/T/T/574/87                   26 S   RMY 27 2/25 32/11/22/-8/0.07/3.1/650/98              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 55/38/47/+13/..../0.0/.../..             37 WNW RMY N/A 3/12 morning low temp: 32F 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 14.0 INS. surpasses previous record: 13.0 ins. in 1969 - NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL FOR 15 FEBRUARY 2015 SNOW 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 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 RECORDS FOR MARCH 13 HIGH 72 IN 1990 LOW -1 IN 1885 PRECIP 2.47 INS. IN 1993 SNOWFALL 10.0 INS. IN 1993 PEAK GUST 76 MPH ENE IN 1993 [THE "STORM OF THE CENTURY"] TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Brian Fitzgerald