Greetings to all of you as we gradually wind down the most incredible winter of 1995-1996 and the month of February. This winter will forever live in the minds of New Englanders as a true hard winter with plenty of weather to discuss. As I write this, we have broken the all time known seasonal snowfall record here in Easton, Massachusetts, 24.5 mi SSW of Boston with 97.5" being recorded through March 3....This is based on roughly 90 years of weather records being extrapolated from long time known stations such as Brockton....which in the winter of 1947-1948, the year that Blue Hill had 136", only recorded about 95"!!! So this winter has been much snowier than even 1947-1948 !!! Our last snowstorm brought us a total of 6.4" with an additional 0.4" of snow being observed in SW- Sunday. Here's my detailed summary for the month.....and some stats for the Meteorological Winter.....See my other email about Blue Hill for some more interesting tidbits about this winter.... ******************************************************* The month of February 1996 continued the historically active winter that we have seen this season. Although the month ends the meteorological winter, true New England winter weather will not end until early April when normal high temperatures jump to spring levels above 50 making way for the color and life that Spring bursts forth. The beautiful white landscape this month was only noticeable in Easton for the first 10 days of the month and then at the middle of the month (14th-20th) before yet another thaw took hold of the area. The melting effect was rapid as 7" of snow cover on the 19th melted quickly to absolutely nothing just 48 hours later. February 1996 can be divided into two parts: one cold and one relatively warm. The first half of the month was abnormally cold averaging approximately 5 degrees colder than normal. Easton saw its coldest temperatures on the 4th and 5th of the month as the brutal cold that once plagued the Midwest with readings near 50 below broke off and modified over the Bay State. The areas to see the coldest regions were those low and protected: that is, subject to radiational cooling thus making Easton a prime candidate for subzero readings as dew points the afternoon of the 4th showed readings around -10. Just as the radiational cooling effect occurred after sunset, the mercury fell rapidly as the dew point predicted it would. From 8PM on the 4th to 10AM on the 5th, Easton was below zero bottoming out at -15, the coldest temperature observed here in roughly 15 years. Shortly after the strongest cold weather, the strongest barometric pressure was observed for the month at 30.56" on the 6th. Five days later, the weather pattern changed, and as typical of this winter, the pressure fell rapidly and quickly bottomed out at 29.26" on the 11th. It was the passage of a coastal snowstorm on the 16th that allowed for one more shot of cold air before our 9 day thaw of mlid temperatures. 8 of these 9 days saw consecutive minimum temperatures that failed to reach below the freezing mark. During this mild stretch of weather, a "cold front" passed through on the 24th not only providing us with a morning thundershower, but also a gale force NW wind as the front's associated Low pressure center intensified rapidly in the Canadian maritimes. A peak gust to 55 MPH from the NW was recorded the morning of 25th, yet the day saw temperatures in the lower 50s! It was certainly unusual to see such mild temperatures in February as the wind blew fiercely from this normally cold weather direction Overall, the month averaged just slightly under normal with a mean temperature of 28.7 degrees. The precipitation total of 3.39" was just 0.22" above the ten year normal of 3.17." The total snowfall of 17.9" was 7.6" above normal. EASTON, MASSACHUSETTS NORTHEAST BRISTOL COUNTY CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT MONTHLY SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 1996 TEMPERATURE Highest 57 21st Lowest -15 5th Average High 37.0 Average Low 20.3 Mean for the Month 28.7 PRECIPITATION Total for February 3.39" Departure from Normal +0.22" Total Snowfall 17.9" Departure from Normal +7.6" Greatest amount of Liquid in Observational Day 0.64" 17th Greatest amount of Snowfall in Observational Day 6.2" 17th Daysw with Measurable Precip 13 Total Precip year to Date 10.56" Total Snowfall year to Date: 60.3" (Seasonal Snowfall: 90.7") WEATHER Days with FOG 3 Days with THUNDER 1 Days with ICE PELLETS 1 WIND Peak Gust at N. Easton was 55 MPH from the NW on the 25th BAROMETRIC PRESSURE RANGE Lowest was 29.26" on the 11th and the Highest was 30.56" on the 6th DEW POINT/RELATIVE HUMIDITY Average 5PM Dew Point 18.8 AVerage 5PM Relative Humidity 60 percent AND NOW FOR THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER STATS.....(DEC., JAN., FEB) TEMPERATURE Highest 59 Jan 19 Lowest -15 Feb 5 Average High 36.9 Average Low 20.7 Mean 28.8 PRECIPITATION Total for the Period 13.63" Departure from Normal +2.36" Average Daily 0.15" Total Snowfall for the Period 85.9" Departure from Normal +57.6 " !!! WOW !!! That means 3x the amount we should normally have ! Greatest in Obs Day 1.78" on January 8th Greatest Snow in Obs Day 15.9" on January 8th Measurable Precip 48 out of 91 days WIND Peak Gust 63 MPH on Jan 19 BAROMETRIC PRESSURE RANGE Lowest was 29.26" on Feb 11 and the Highest was 30.74" on Jan 16.... Josh Nichols Easton, MA weather observer 75613.1534@compuserve.com Lyndon State Freshman Class '96-97