Observer Comments

21:16 Fri Jul 18th

Lenticular Clouds

January 29th, 2008. That is a red letter day in the history of my life. I started my internship at the Mount Washington Observatory on that day and loved it from the start. At first, I couldn’t even fathom the idea that I would ever witness such an extensive variety of spectacular meteorological phenomena. Several months and hundreds of weather pictures later, I gathered my best photographs and posted them into my "Unusual Weather Phenomena Photo Gallery", a trilogy of Observer Comments.

I’m thankful for having the pleasure to meet some of the most interesting people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. This group includes volunteers, interns, observers, and other MWO/State Park employees. I could go into even more details about my experiences here on the summit during the last six months, but you can find those in my past observer comments. For this comment, I will mainly focus on my remaining days as an MWO intern.

This week’s weather seemed like a meteorological “grand finale” for my internship experience atop Mount Washington. Some of the most interesting aspects of this week include lenticular clouds, a picturesque sunset, and severe weather. Today’s severe weather featured heavy rain, high winds gusting up to 87.5 mph, lightning striking very close by, and even a tornado warning issued for Grafton County (in southern NH).

After the passage of a few rather intense thunderstorms this afternoon, I went out for a walk around the summit to get some fresh air and to photograph nearby storm clouds. As I looked out towards the northern Presidential Range, I thought about the magnitude of the landscape’s transition from winter into spring and then into summer.

Besides the breathtaking vistas, I will undoubtedly miss my co-workers here. However, I will especially miss the feline summit mascot, Marty. This cat, who won the Mount Washington Mascot Primary, has been a constant source of entertainment, happiness, and welcomed distractions. I’ve taken more pictures of Marty than I want to admit. Interestingly enough, “Marty” wrote two observer comments this year where he posted some of the best of the best of his pictures taken by myself and the other staff here. If you want a good laugh, I recommend checking out these comments which are found in our observer comments archive.

This is indeed the end of an amazing chapter in my life. I only hope the next chapter, entrance into the Graduate Program in Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University, will be able to match, if not top, this experience. Though I will be living 15 hours away from this summit, I will make it one of my long term goals to find my way back here. Mount Washington and its associated experiences are just too wonderful to forever leave behind.

Matthew Morin – Space Grant Intern

17:08 Thu Jul 17th

Hello, Marty here

Mmm it’s nice out. Think I’ll saunter
Lots of people around.
They is ok.
I like drink their water.
Like to hide around corner.
Like to hide in cave.
Like to hide in box.
Like to hide behind computer.
What??

Play time?!
Bouncy, shiny, jingly!!
Fun time.
Toys in drawer
Mine! Not yours.
We play again now?

Play makes tired kitty.
Sleep good here
Sleep good here too

See you next time.
Meow leave me alone

Marty – Summit Cat

07:37 Wed Jul 16th

Sunrise

Fog. Fog. Fog. Fog. Fog was the operative word this week. We had fog Wednesday after we got here. We had fog Thursday. We had fog Friday. We had fog Saturday during the Newton’s Revenge bike race. We had fog Sunday and Monday. Today? Today the summit of Mount Washington was blessed with sunshine and light winds. So, we experienced it all- our first magnificent sunrise at 5:06am, our first long hike off the summit down to Lakes, over to Boott Spur, and then back up to the summit cone via Tuckerman's, our first breathtaking sunset this week and our first opportunity to stargaze in a clear sky with a splendid moon. In between all of today’s exciting events, we cleaned the Observatory living quarters for the new crew tomorrow, cooked dinner (thanks for the help, Dennis and Jeff!), made cookies, and shopped at the Observatory museum store. What a day! But, despite the aforementioned foggy days, the summit of Mount Washington and the Observatory do not disappoint. The crew is always friendly, the cooking is always appreciated, and there is always something to learn or do. On Saturday, standing at the finish line of Newton's revenge, chatting with the spectators, and watching the bikers pedal (and sometimes walk!) up the last 22% grade hill was enthralling. Our nightly Scrabble competitions were entertaining, as were the dinner conversations. Playing in the strong winds on the obs deck made us laugh uncontrollably. And of course, we enjoyed bonding with Marty, the Observatory mascot! We're so happy to be members of this great organization and we thank the Observatory for the opportunity to volunteer a week on the summit, Patti for the fifth time, and Deidra for the first. We’ll be back!

A public service announcement:

This Wednesday, July 16 at 7 PM, don't forget to stop by the Weather Discovery Center and be a part of our kick off to Subaru Science in the Mountains: A Passport to Science, when we take you to Alaska! We'll transport you through video conferencing technology and talk to educators at the Alaska Sealife Center who will inform us about volcanoes, glaciers, and climate change in South Central Alaska and the Kenai Fjords. Admission is FREE! Seating is limited so please arrive early. Refreshments will be served. Thanks to the support of Subaru of America, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation - North Country region and 93.5 WMWV.

Subaru Science in the Mountains: A Passport to Science offers programs on six consecutive Wednesday evenings from July 16 through August 20. Our other presentations include:

July 23: Space Center Houston Take a trip back in time to the beginning of space exploration with the staff of the Official Visitors Center of NASA's Johnson Space Center.

July 30: University of Rhode Island Dr. Isaac Ginis, Professor of Oceanography, will offer a general overview of hurricanes, examining the tools used at the National Hurricane Center and emphasizing the use of hurricane models in forecasting.

August 6: South Pole, Antarctica Lance Roth, a meteorologist and science technician at the South Pole, will introduce you to life at the South Pole and his work examining the Aurora Australis.

August 13: National Baseball Hall of Fame What do the red stitches on a baseball have to do with aerodynamics? Why do some hitters choke up at the bat? Why do some players wear batting gloves? Hall of Fame educators will dig into the science of baseball.

August 20: Seacoast Science Center The series concludes with a trip to the coast of New Hampshire for a live look at the ecology of Granite State’s rocky shores, from above and below the ocean’s surface.

Patti and Deidra – Summit Volunteers

05:58 Tue Jul 15th

Patience, young grasshopper.

I’ve been told sometimes my head’s in the fog,
And after weeks like this, I just sit there and nod.
There’s no use denying it, we all get a bit crazy
When life passes like the weather, more than a little hazy.

The grayness can get to you…at least let it storm.
Rolling thunder, flashing lightening to brighten up the morn.
There’s no chance for the sun – been playing hide and seek for days.
Even the moon is temperamental, hoarding reflected rays.

Wet rain and wet fog, slick rocks and green lichen.
In winter they're covered; treacherous now is the hiking.
So you curl up inside – sit, write, and read.
May as well expand your mind – it’s the only horizon you’ll see.

And so gray turns to black as day turns to night.
You hope and you plead for a change from this sight.
Then all of a sudden your wishes come true.
The clouds open up, starlight falls upon you.

You rejoice for a second, and in another it’s gone.
It’s an ephemeral nature, perhaps less so by dawn.
But the faint smell of dandelions brings hope to the air
And the memories of childhood, life without a care.

The Earth rolls over and dawn paints the sky red,
The fog nestled in the valley, wind caressing the sedge
And little pink clouds drift just out of reach
While the rain ate the snow on the Jefferson Beach.

And as all things must do, the fog came to an end.
With blue sky and sun light, our spirits will mend.
So the sun will go down, rising again once more
As we will go down, to the green valley floor.

Mike Finnegan – IT Observer

11:59 Mon Jul 14th

Can you see the virga?

It seems that the daily observer comments requires the writer of the day to make some sort of reference to the clouds that we’re mostly embedded in. Today’s comments will continue along that vain. We've been in the clouds for the most part for this shift. We came up on Wednesday and it was clear for a few hours and then it was clear again late Saturday afternoon. I took advantage of the opportunity on Saturday to hike down from the Observatory to Ball Crag to stretch out my legs. Marty, the Observatory cat, decided that he wanted to go hiking also and followed me. I tried to hike fast enough to keep ahead or even get away from Marty but that didn't work. When I reached the Auto Road, along a location known as the Homestretch, I decided to turn around. I was getting concerned that Marty was getting further away from the Observatory and I was worried about him being near the Auto Road. Marty wasn't happy. He had been "talking" to me during the entire trip down but his tone changed when I turned around. He wanted to keep going, he sat down, then lay stretched out, and sulked. He stayed that way next to the road until I had traveled some distance back towards the Observatory. The next thing I knew, Marty was bounding past me going up the trail and "talking" to me again. He would get ahead of me, then lay stretched out on a rock and wait for me to catch up and pass him. He would then bound ahead of me and lay stretched out on a rock again waiting for me to again catch up. This game was repeated until we reached the Observatory, upon which Marty disappeared. When I got inside the building, Marty was already there. He’s been up here longer than I have and knows all the short cuts.

Steve mentioned the disappearing snow pack on the side of Mt. Jefferson in his comments a couple of days ago. We had a brief glimpse, through the clouds; of a miniscule patch of snow yesterday and today it’s gone altogether. The last patch of the snow probably melted during last night’s rain.

As I sit at the computer composing my thoughts I’m distracted with the mostly clear sky right outside the Observatory’s windows. While this is a great reprieve from an almost constant state of being embedded in thick clouds whipping by, it makes getting work done difficult. I've been number crunching................ and crunching.............. and crunching. I've been looking at data sets (note the plural) that have as many as 35,000 lines of data and trying to come up with the best way to manipulate the data to allow it to make sense and to make comparisons between the data sets. I might be making headway. We'll see, I have a couple of more weeks to wrestle with the data.

Dennis Vienneau – Teacher Extern

15:04 Sun Jul 13th

Mr. L.L.Bean with volunteer Patti

In the summit museum, a wire framed mannequin stands perched atop a display of alpine vegetation. L.L. Bean, one of our sponsors, has outfitted this mannequin with a nice red jacket (with our new logo, of course), along with hiking boots, snow pants, long underwear, gloves, hiking poles, and a backpack. Until Friday, the L.L. Bean man was held up by a set of wires and hiking poles. But mid-afternoon on Friday, with a full gift shop for an audience, the L.L. Bean man lost his balance and came toppling over onto the museum display underneath him. After a failed attempt to regain his balance, his post was abandoned. Since then, he has been traveling around the Observatory. On Friday night, he made an appearance in the observers’ bed room. He spent yesterday in the radio room where all the forecasts are recorded. This morning, the dummy waited outside the observer bunk room waiting for Stacey, then moved to Jeff’s bunk room to await Jeff’s alarm. Since then, Mr. L.L. Bean has been sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a Steven King novel. Hopefully tomorrow he will rejoin his fellow mannequin when he returns to his post watching over the museum.

Lisa Hodges – Summit Intern

14:41 Sat Jul 12th

Waiting for the racers

There was a bustle of excitement on the summit this morning for Newton's Revenge, an annual bike race up the auto road. The road was open from 6am and 8am for spectators to drive up, so the summit was full of people when I woke up. The Mount Washington Auto Road is known as the toughest hillclimb in the world, at 7.6 miles and 4700 vertical feet, making a 12% average grade.

There are two annual bike races on the auto road: Newton's Revenge in July, and the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb (MWARBH) in August. The MWARBH has been held annually since 1973, weather permitting. It is limited to 600 competitors, and in recent years has filled up in less than an hour. In 2006, Newton's Revenge was created to satisfy the extra demand for a Mount Washington bicycle hillclimb, and this year it fielded 212 racers.

From the pictures I have seen, today was a beautiful day to bike up Mount Washington. Moderate summer temperatures, calm winds, and partly cloudy skies provided the racers with beautiful views as they ascended the mountain. Up here on the summit, however, we were stuck firmly in the fog. On the bright side, the racers were free of scenic distractions on the 22% grade leading up to the finish line.

The race began at 8:40am, and the winner arrived on the summit 55 minutes and 5 seconds later, for an average speed over 8 mph. The winning female suffered a broken chain on the final stretch and had to run her bike up the last hill to the finish line, but still placed 16th overall with a time of 1:14:22. That was just the beginning of the anguish on the home stretch, which included a crash and a good deal of walking. For full results and more pictures of the race, see the official race results and photo gallery. Also, look for some race footage in our upcoming ObsCast, which will be available on Monday.

Jeff Wehrwein – Summit Intern

13:36 Fri Jul 11th

Jefferson Snow Field

We finally broke out of the fog for a few hours this morning. As usual it was a very welcomed change that was enjoyed by everyone up here. Two things that were really noticeable were just how green the vegetation is looking now, especially around the Great Gulf area, and secondly how small the Jefferson snow field has become.

If you look carefully, just to the right of the center, of the main photo above there is a small white patch – yes that’s it - the very last snow we can see from the summit. It is melting rapidly now and surely won’t last more than another day or so.

We are well and truly back in the fog now so who knows if we’ll get to see it again this year. Just think in another couple of months the next season’s snow may start to fall.

Steve Welsh – IT Observer

14:04 Thu Jul 10th

Martys beautiful green eyes

Rejection

Stacey Kawecki – Observer

16:25 Wed Jul 9th

Marty takes in his surroundings

One of my favorite activities was taking a hike over to Mt. Clay. Not having climbed much in the past few years it was a good re-introduction into an activity that I enjoyed a lot in my youth. The people that you meet on the trails almost always greet you with a hearty hello, and on several occasions we even stopped to talk, introduce ourselves, and then take the opportunity to talk about the activities and opportunities to volunteer at the observatory. Being up here experiencing the weather changes and seeing the work done on behalf of science has been very enjoyable. When not helping out with volunteer activities (cooking, cleaning and inventory) it was interesting walking through the obs work area, peering over shoulders and asking what was going on. The personal background of the staff was as interesting as their work here. It has been a wonderful weather week up here and I return home with a greater appreciation of the many facets of weather observation that are required to make both short term forecasts and long term meteorological and atmospheric studies. Until next time!

Kurt Hastings – Summit Volunteer

20:19 Tue Jul 8th

Tower, summit, and the american spirit.

It goes by all to fast. We volunteer to cook, clean, and do whatever our individual skills allow in order to be able to experience the 'World's Worst Weather.' On this weeks watch, we had a peak wind of 76, just over hurricane force, with perhaps visibility down to 40 yds followed the next day- the 4th of July- with visibility of 100 mi., winds at 15-17 mph. We could see into '5 states, 2 countrys, AND the Atlantic Ocean' all for bragging rights, BUT this occurance only happens a few times a year, mostly in winter. So, yes, we are experiencing extremes on two consecutive days found in few places on earth. Neat!! The remainder of the week's weather has been beautiful from the stand point of nice days found in most scenic mtn regions of the world, but with fast moving clouds- I do mean FAST moving, as in time-lapse photography. A side perk of being part of this life is meeting two very interesting meteorlogocal professionals, the interns who are checking out the possibilities of a future career and to be able to get in some great short hikes as time permits. I got in a couple. Gotta go- the chili is ready and the staff is hungry. Oh, yes- from a beautiful photo-type afternoon only moments earlier- it's raining!!

Gates Ingram – Summit Volunteer

14:29 Mon Jul 7th

Enjoying the Big H, by watching sunrise first.

The summit this past week has been particularly interesting, for a number of reasons I might add. Instead of focusing on the all of the aspects that aided in making this week somewhat abnormal, I’m going to center my attention on perhaps the most notable of the anomalies. That is of course the fair weather. If you are at all familiar with the mountain you know that the summit is usually stuck inside of a cloud (about 60% of the time). This week however (barring few exceptions) has been fog free. The facet of the unusually mild weather has been the wind. The average wind speed up here is generally around 35 mph, the past few days, it has strained to surpass ten at times.

So, what’s the reason for all of this boring weather you ask? The answer is fairly simple. The summit, along with the rest of the northeast, is under the influence of high pressure. If you have every studied a weather map, you will have noticed a bunch of curved lines along with A bunch of "L’s" and "H’s" strewn about. These letters indicate pressure centers. L stands for low pressure and H for high pressure. High pressure acts analogous to a lid on the atmosphere suppressing any clouds and precipitation from forming.

Clear skies and calm weather on the summits mean more recreational hikers. I myself indulged in a couple of hikes this week. However I will focus on the hike I took down to Tuckerman’s Ravine to accompany Brian (shift leader) while he skied on what was left of the snow down there. This hike disconcerted me a slight bit because I witnessed a lot of people that were under prepared and not even close to being appropriately dressed for climbing any mountain, let alone Mount Washington. So as a public service announcement, please hike smart, that includes: dressing appropriately, understanding the weather, and knowing when to quit.

With that said, I highly recommend coming out to enjoy these rare spells of mild weather on the higher summits. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Ted Letcher – Summit Intern

20:10 Sun Jul 6th

Natalies attempt at pic of Bretton Woods fireworks

July is a beautiful but busy month at the observatory. The summits have finally turned green, the snow packs are starting to dwindle with the observers taking bets on when the Jefferson snow pack will completely melt out, flowers are blooming, and tourist are flocking to the summit by various means to take in the sites and escape the warm valley temperatures. The summit itself has a lineup of events occurring that will be keeping the summit staff busy like the bees pollinating outside. So lets me go through some of these events for you to show you what I mean:

Monthly Summary: I just finished up the monthly summary for June which is fairly intense for a span of two day totaling about 10 hours worth of work in addition to my normal tasks. So what was discovered? For June, the average temperature was 47.6F which was 3.2F above normal with a high of 69 on the 10th and a low of 33 on the 12th. The summit received 10.00 inches of precipitation which was 1.64 inches above normal with a 24 hour maximum of 2.67 inches falling between the 10th and 11th. We received 0.3 inches of “snow” (mostly hail) which was 0.8 inches below normal with the greatest amount in 24 hours being 0.3 inches on the 10th. The average wind speed was 26.1 mph which is 1.3 mph below normal with a maximum gust of only 84 mph from the west on the 10th. There were 3 days with gusts 73 mph or more and 0 days of 100 mph or more. The summit only received 21% of the possible sunshine minutes it could have received. There were 0 clear days, 3 partly cloudy days, and 27 mostly cloudy/cloudy days. Lastly, there were 29 days with fog, 24 days with rain, and 6 days with “snow” (again, mostly hail).

Yearly Summary: A meteorological year last from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. So this means July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. So here is what I found: The average temperature for the year was 28.4F which is 1.2F above normal. The highest for the year was 69F on June 10, 2008 and the lowest was -26F on January 21, 2008. The total precipitation was 79.41 inches which was 22.50 inches below normal. The 24 maximum occurred on October 19/20, 2007 with 2.67 inches. Snowfall for the year was 237.1 inches which was 75.5 inches below normal. Surprising since most locations around the summit had their second snowiest winter on record. There are reasons for this, but I think Brian explained this before in comments on his accuweather.com blog. The most snow in 24 hours was 12.6 inches on December 3, 2007. Our average wind speed was 35.5 mph which is 0.2 mph above average. Our peak gust was 145 mph from the west on March 21, 2008. There were 141 days with gusts 73 mph or more and 35 days with 100 mph or more. The summit received an average of 33% of possible sunshine. There were 37 clear days, 80 partly cloudy days, and 249 mostly cloudy/cloudy days. Lastly, there were 330 days with fog, 133 days with rain, and 154 days with frozen precipitation.

EMS Adventures, Treks & Trails: We had our first group from this new adventure series. They were a great group and we look forward to housing two more groups in the coming months. What these groups get is an overnight on the actual summit of Mount Washington, hanging and talking with observers and summit staff. You get a professional Eastern Mountain Sports Guide that takes you up and down the challenging summit. Lastly, you get a 20% off coupon off EMS gear. If you have been unable to get a space at a hut, are looking for a guided hike, or for a chance to stay on top overnight, this is a great opportunity. For more information, check out their website HERE.

Summer Edutrips: These kick off this week on the 10th and 11th with two more scheduled for July (19/20 and 24/25) and four in August (2/3, 7/8, 14/15, 23/24). For about the price of one night at a nice hotel in the valleys around the summit, you can come up and spend the night on the summit. You get a ride up the summit in our van with a guide who will guide you through our weather, our forecasting techniques, the vegetation, geology, history, and life on top. Some trips include day hikes to surrounding summit locations. All meals are included and you get bragging rights that you got to spend the night on the summit and experience our variable weather first hand far longer than most tourists get to experience. For more information, check out our website HERE.

Subaru Science in the Mountains: A Passport to Science: For six weeks starting Wednesday, July 16 at 7 PM at the Weather Discovery Center (an interactive learning center, and at 11 and 2 you can talk to an observer via video conferencing) located in North Conway, we will be connecting visitors to scientific destinations far and wide via video conferencing technology. Interesting people will be discussing their work in several scientific fields. The first is with the Alaska Sea Life Center. Other locations and people we will be connecting with are: The Space Center, Houston (July 23 at 7pm), Isaac Ginis, Professor of Oceanography (July 30 at 7pm), Lance Roth, Meteorologist located in Antarctica (August 6, 7 pm), the Baseball Hall of Fame (August 13 at 7 pm), and the Seacoast Science Center (August 20 at 7 pm). Admission is Free! So if you are looking for something to do while on vacation or having a staycation (a term for local vacation), come by and experience something new, it won’t cost you anything but it will provide you with a good time.

Summit Tours and Museum: If you come to the summit, be aware that there is a museum and our summit gift shop in the basement. This gift shop offers unique weather gifts and observatory specific gear and all proceeds benefit the weather observatory. While in the basement, you can check out the summit museum which offers a look at the creation, history, and weather of the summit along with our famous “Breakfast of Champions” video. Lastly, we offer a guided tour of the observatory that takes you to the highest location you can get in the northeast (about 100 feet above the actual summit) as well as see what it takes to live and work on the summit. Plus, with every tour, you get and introductory membership.

Interns and Observer Positions: As some or you may be aware, we offer internships on the summit. Currently our fall internship positions are open with a deadline of July 15th. This is open to any major, any age over 18, and anyone seeking a great way to experience the summit. We are lacking a bit in applications, so please help us spread the word by posting in forums (other than ours), emailing people or schools you might know or talking to people who have interest in the summit. Once the deadline is met, we will be interviewing potential candidates towards the end of the month. Another employment opportunity is a position as a full time weather observer. We have started to receive applications and are continuing to seek interested and qualified individuals.

Seek the Peak: Our eighth annual Hike-a-Thon will be taking place July 25-26th. It is looking to be the biggest and best one we have had so far. We have over 250 hikers signed up. If you are one of the first 250 to raise $100, you get a huge goodie bags that have over $100 worth of goodies this year including a Camelbak Hydration System and a Seek The Peak shirt. We have over $11,000 worth of prize packages you can win pending on your fund raising amount. Plus, there is a great after party where you can unwind and talk to some great people. You can still register for free before 5 pm on July 23, 2008. For more information go HERE. I will be hitting the trails this year with all 250 of you so if you see someone on the trails in observatory gear, say hello. If you are not hiking, please stop by the website and sponsor someone, there is still time. If you want to sponsor me, you can go to this link and click the “sponsor me” button on the right. If you don’t trust online sponsoring, but know a hiker, you can donate to them via cash, check or money orders (made out to Mount Washington Observatory). If you don’t know anybody to sponsor but want to sponsor me by this method, send to (by July 23): Ryan Knapp; c/o Mount Washington Observatory, Summit; PO Box 2310; North Conway, NH 03860. I will not be registering for any of the prize packages, so all donations I receive will go directly to the observatory to support the work we do on the summit. I can’t wait to meet and see all of you hikers out there.

Ryan Knapp – Staff Meteorologist

14:23 Sat Jul 5th

Making Turns on Center Headwall

Last night after dinner, the crew celebrated the 4th of July in the same way that millions of others around the country did; we watched fireworks. However, unlike the majority of those millions, we were looking down on them as we were watching. Most were very small and could be seen dotting the southern horizon. The fireworks set off in the town of Conway, NH and Gorham, NH however were much easier to see. Regardless, we were just thankful to see anything at all considering how often we have fog on the mountain, especially recently.

Personally, I also celebrated the 4th in a much less typical way; I went skiing in Tuckerman Ravine. If you are familiar with Mount Washington, you probably already know that snow sticks around in some places well into the summer months. If you are not very familiar with the mountain, this may come as a surprise to you.

By the end of the winter season, prevailing winds pile snow in the bottom of Tuckerman Ravine up to 50 or more feet deep. This past winter was a good one in the Ravine, so the depth of snow in the bottom of the bowl probably exceeded 50 feet by quite a bit. As I am sure you can imagine, it takes a long time for this much snow to melt, hence the reason I was able to go skiing there yesterday.

The vertical rise of the snow that is left only allowed for about 7 or 8 turns on each run. That didn’t matter to me though as any skiing I can get in July is good skiing in my humble opinion. I can’t help but think that if we had not had such a warm April and June here on the mountain, there may have been a lot more snow to ski on yesterday.

How much longer will this snow stick around? Well, that will mostly depend on the weather through the rest of this month. After making a trip down there, I personally think that at least some snow will be around into the very beginning of August. You can watch for when the snow disappears yourself by taking a look at our Ravine webcam. If you become a member, you can even get a nice zoomed in view of Tuckerman Ravine, among many other webcam views available only to members through our premium content. Also check out my Mount Washington blog on AccuWeather.com, where I posted an entry yesterday talking about the places where snow is still hanging out around Mount Washington and will post more today about my trip to Tuckerman Ravine yesterday.

I will leave you with some more pictures taken yesterday by either myself, or intern Ted as he accompanied me on the hike down and back up.

View of the Bowl from Tuckerman Ravine Trail

The Snow Arch Starting to Form

More Undermined Snow

Hiking Up Center Headwall

The Lip

Brian Clark – Observer

16:51 Fri Jul 4th

Flag on Tower

Happy Independence Day everyone! The summit was in the clear with temperatures in the 50s and low winds. In honor of the anniversary of our nation’s independence, a flag was flown from the observatory tower today. This will be up for auction at an upcoming event.

Marty has been outside lately, enjoying the nice weather we’ve been having. He even chased a barking fox away from the summit a few days ago. Later today we plan on taking a wonderful picture of Marty with a staff member to display in the museum downstairs so keep your eyes open for more signs of Marty. We have had many visitors ask when we will get posters, t-shirts, and mugs with Marty on them, and I can’t tell you when that will happen but we hope it’s soon!

In addition to the normal video games or movie, we are hoping for some good outdoor activities tonight. Since it is the 4th of July and we know of a town or two that have a fireworks show we are hoping for a good display since we are expecting to have a clear night.

As an added bonus to a great day my mom and her buddies hiked up to the summit today and I was able to visit with them for a short time before they headed back down the trail.

Natalie Martin – Summit Intern

22:35 Thu Jul 3rd

Since the beginning of my internship with the Mount Washington Observatory back in February, I’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to photograph a wide variety of unusual weather phenomena. I recently compiled the best of the best of these pictures and used them in two of my observer comments. Additionally, I used my knowledge of meteorology to include a discussion of how these phenomena form. As my internship winds down, I have a few more interesting photos to share with you all. So here it is… part 3 of Matt’s Unusual Weather Phenomena Photo Gallery.

Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Cloud
Back in February I took several pictures of a breathtaking Mount Washington-style sunset. As if the stunning winter scenery wasn’t enough, I later found out that I had also captured an interesting cloud formation. Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves, or K-H Waves, form as a result of wind shear in a narrow cloud layer. Faster winds at the top of the cloud layer drag crests of the wave faster than the associated troughs. This type of turbulence creates waves similar to those found in the ocean.

Mammatus Cloud
One cloud formation that I thought I would never see while atop Mount Washington is mammatus. It was my misconception that mammatus only form under the anvils of mature cumulonimbus clouds. I figured seeing mammatus meant severe weather was nearby. However, mammatus cloud formations can be found in many different non-severe cloud types such as stratiform clouds, as seen in the photograph I took last May. Nonetheless, mammatus form as a result of moisture-laden air sinking at different rates. The more moisture in the parcel of air, the more opportunity for evaporative cooling in the sub cloud layer which leads to a faster descent. The outcome of this complex process is drooping cotton ball shaped clouds.

Gravity Wave
Picture the wave created by a rock being thrown into water. This type of moving wave can also be found in the atmosphere in the form of a cloud disturbance known as a gravity wave. Gravity waves form as a result of a trigger that forces air to move in the vertical direction. In most cases, topography is the trigger that forces air in a stable environment to first rise then sink back to and past the equilibrium point. The result is a ripple in the clouds which is best seen in a stratiform cloud layer.

With only one and a half shifts remaining, I don’t expect to create a fourth edition to this series. However, given the unique atmospheric conditions created and experienced by Mount Washington, I won’t totally reject the notion of seeing and photographing more types of unusual weather phenomena.

Matthew Morin – Space Grant Intern

07:59 Wed Jul 2nd

Fog, fog, intermittent fog, fog and those precious sunshine minutes.... It was hard to remember that it’s a warm, humid summer in the valley when we were on the Obs deck in fleece and windproof gear, but it was well worth the experience on the summit to give up a few of those precious warm days. The Obs is a world unto itself with a relaxed but disciplined team that make the next weather observation no matter what obstacles or distractions present themselves. The observers and interns here help bring you weather forecasts by feeding data to the National Weather Service at Gray, Maine, sending forecasts to the AMC and local radio stations, creating Obscasts, doing interactive Q&As with visitors at the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, and other daily tasks. Sitting in the weather room, you’re likely to be entertained by Marty, everyone’s favorite cat, or by weather station alerts of impending storms as you enter historic weather data from the big black book into the B16 database. It seemed a fair trade to exchange kitchen skills for the opportunity to view sunrises, sunsets, thunderstorms, fog rolling in every open door and window, and to share the weekly routine with these folks on the summit. It was a ‘working’ holiday I will remember and one I would repeat. When you come to Mt Washington this summer, visit Deb in the Obs museum and shop, and become an Obs member so you can meet Jeff or Lisa for a tour and see what life is like for Steve, Stacey and Mike as weather observers. Happy Canada Day to friends and family north of the border. xxoo

Beth and Sandra – Summit Volunteers

11:28 Tue Jul 1st

Precipitation Can

Let me take a moment to reflect on my first week at the Mt. Washington Observatory. It started last Wednesday in the parking lot meeting the other crew members of the week’s shift. The van to bring the shift crew up the mountain was fully loaded with staff and supplies so I rode up separately with Ken Rancourt, the Director of Summit Operations. Ken acted as the tour guide pointing out various points of interest and important landmarks to remember in the event that I find myself lost in the fog while traversing the mountain. I’ve been told that Ken will frequently quiz the new crew members on their summit landmark knowledge so I’ve been studying the maps in the observation room.

I’ve been tasked this week with becoming acquainted with the daily MWO operations. There are nine people on the summit this week, three weather observers, two interns, two volunteers, a summit museum/store employee, and me, a teacher extern. Two of the observers, Stacey and Steve, work the day shift and one, Mike, works the overnight shift. Weather observations are collected, recorded, and reported hourly to the National Weather Service. Every three hours, the weather data collected and reported, becomes slightly more involved and even more so every six hours.

Forecasts are transmitted to several radio stations, some are live and some are taped for later play back. Forecasts are also transmitted to the AMC huts where a designated person is responsible for recording the weather for hikers’ awareness. The observers also compile a weekly weather summary that goes to the Mountain Ear, a weekly Mt. Washington Valley newspaper.

The interns, Jeff and Lisa, assist the observers with weather observations, lead tours of the observatory for observatory members that visit the summit, work on individual research projects that they have taken on, and assist with various maintenance projects as they evolve. The volunteers (Beth and Sandra) cook our great evening meals and help to keep us neat and organized in our living quarters. Deb has been down in the museum store busy with sales of MWO paraphernalia and interacting with visitors to the summit.

And me, well I’ve been observing the flurry of activity on the mountain, asking lots of questions, helping where I can with observations, lending a hand with the mounting and dismounting of instruments and in general being in continual awe of being on the Summit.

Dennis Vienneau – Space Grant Extern

04:29 Tue Jul 1st

This lovely Tuesday morning began much earlier than the rest. I awoke to Mike alerting me that we would have a nice sunrise. So I hopped out of my warm bed and threw on several layers of clothing and a hat and mittens and ventured out to the observation deck. Emerging to the deck, however, proved disappointing. The fog that we have been surrounded by all week had not yet lifted. We caught a few glimpses of the sun each time a thinner cloud blew past us. It looked like the sun had disappeared for good when, just as it made an appearance over the horizon, the fog blew by in thinner pockets. A few minutes later, we returned to the windows as the fog started to sink below the summit and were able to see even more of the sunrise. So my earliest view was not a disappointment after all. But for now, my warm bed is calling me back for a few more hours.

Lisa Hodges – Summit Intern