BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2020 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME A REAL STUNNING LATE SUMMER DAY ATOP GREAT BLUE HILL Yesterday's early evening showers quickly exited the area setting up for a beautiful start to our Thursday. We observed near perfect visibility and clear skies right out of the gate. The rocky summit of Mount Monadnock in southwestern New Hampshire was in clear, breathtaking view. Visibility and mostly clear skies held firm throughout all observation periods. Interestingly, the last recorded 85 mile or greater of visibility from our rooftop was June 1st, 2020...a welcomed return! Coupled with the excellent viewing distance and bountiful sunshine, dew points are also a paralleling story. Dew points began in the mid-50s crashing to the upper-40s by early afternoon! A sampling of the fall season to come! Winds have remained rather gentle topping out so far at 20 MPH. The dominant direction has been via the northwest.       The high so far today is 78F, 1 degree below the daily normal maximum of 79F. The low since midnight is 56F, 6 degrees below the normal minimum of 62F. Today's Observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Clear (few cirrus W-N) Temperature: 61F; Dew Point: 53F; Relative Humidity: 75% Wind: NNW at 11 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.07 ins. Hg: rising, then more rapidly Visibility: 85 miles 6-hr Max temp: 61F 6-hr Min temp: 56F 24-hr Precip: 0.03 ins. BHO SA 1155 CLR 85 184/61/53/3311/007/ FEW CI DSNT W-N/ 8/001 70003 53014 10061 20056 10 A.M. Weather: Clear (few cumulus and few cirrus/cirrostratus distant W-N) Temperature: 73F; Dew Point: 48F; Relative Humidity: 41% Wind: NNW at 7 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.08 ins. Hg: rising, then falling Visibility: 85 miles 3-hr Precip: 0.00 ins. BHO SA 1455 CLR 85 186/73/48/3307/008/ FEW CU DSNT W-N FEW CI/CS DSNT W-N 8/101 50002 1 P.M. Weather: Scattered Cumulus (few cirrus distant NW-NE) Temperature: 77F; Dew Point: 47F; Relative Humidity: 34% Wind: WNW at 9 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.03 ins. Hg: falling unsteadily Visibility: 85 miles 6-hr Max temp: 78F 6-hr Min temp: 61F 6-hr Precip: 0.00 ins. BHO SA 1755 65 SCT 85 169/77/47/2909/003/ FEW CI DSNT NW-NE/ 8/101 57013 10078 20061 SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....81   NORMAL.....79 MIN.....59   NORMAL.....62 MEAN....70   NORMAL.....70 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.................. 0 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH.................+79 [+4.0 DEGREES/DAY] COOLING DEGREE DAYS (SEASON JAN TO DEC) TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY..................5  DEPARTURE.......-1                       TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE MONTH................201  DEPARTURE......+74 TOTAL COOLING UNITS FOR THE SEASON...............688  DEPARTURE.....+210 TOTAL COOLING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE..........556  DEPARTURE.....+132 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY....................26 W   AT  5:41 P.M.                      AERO.........................28 W   AT  5:42 P.M.                    ASOS.........................29 W   AT  5:42 P.M.                    DAVIS........................27 WNW AT  5:46 P.M                    RMY 27  MERLIN 26 FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY......................19 SSW AT  2:32 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...................20 SSW AT  2:32 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..................20 W   AT  5:42 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION...............7.0 WNW                              ASOS........................7.5                    DAVIS.......................7.4 WNW [289 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.03  DEPARTURE......-0.10                          ASOS..............0.03 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........0.87  DEPARTURE......-1.75                          ASOS..............0.89 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR..........29.94  DEPARTURE......-3.67                          ASOS.............30.69 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR AUGUST CALENDAR DAY DATA DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/PEAK GUST/AERO/RMY GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system 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 M:    Missing data 08/01  87/66/77/+5/0.00/.../..             18 S    AERO 21 S    RMY 19 08/02  85/69/77/+5/0.02/.../..             36 S    AERO 37 S    RMY 38 08/03  91/75/83/+11/0.00/.../..            36 WSW  AERO 38 SW   RMY 36 08/04  83/71/77/5/0.21/.../..              67 SSE  AERO 71 S    RMY 70 08/05  90/68/79/+7/0.00/.../..             28 SW   AERO 30 SW   RMY 29 08/06  84/65/75/3/0.00/.../..   20 W    AERO 17 W    RMY 19 08/07  79/65/72/0/T/.../..                 16 NE   AERO 16 NE   RMY N/A 08/08  83/64/74/+2/0.00/.../..             20 S    AERO 20 S    RMY 19 08/09  90/65/78/+6/0.00/.../..             26 SSW  AERO 26 SSW  RMY 26 08/10  94/69/82/+11/0.00/.../..            22 W    AERO 20 W    RMY 20 08/11  92/72/82/+11/0.00/.../..            31 SSW  AERO 35 SSW  RMY 31  TSTM 08/12  93/74/84/+13/0.00/.../..            22 SSW  AERO 22 SW   RMY 19 08/13  88/71/80/+9/0.00/.../..             18 ENE  AERO 18 NE   RMY 18 08/14  82/67/75/+4/0.00/.../..             23 ENE  AERO 23 ENE RMY N/A 08/15  67/62/65/-6/T/.../..                33 NNE  AERO 32 NNE  RMY N/A 08/16  69/62/66/-5/..../.../..             26 ENE  AERO 28 ENE  RMY 26 08/17  73/59/66/-5/..../.../..             25 NE   AERO 24 NE   RMY N/A 08/18  84/63/74/+3/..../.../..             23 W    AERO 23 W    RMY 24 08/19  81/59/70/0/0.03/.../..              26 W    AERO 28 W    RMY 27 08/20 The low since midnight is 56F, the daily normal low is 62F DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated):   RECORDS FOR AUGUST 20 HIGH 93F IN 1937 LOW 48F IN 1896, 1905, 1949 PRECIP 2.71 INCHES IN 1970 PEAK GUST 47 MPH W IN 1983 RECORDS FOR AUGUST 21 HIGH 92F IN 1937, 1995 LOW 47F IN 1982 PRECIP 2.84 INCHES IN 1888 PEAK GUST 54 MPH WSW IN 2004 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Andrew Swanson