Delayed Shift Change

2016-01-14 19:14:08.000 – Adam Gill, Weather Observer

Today was an unusual day due to the fact that we had to delay shift change due to poor conditions on the summit yesterday. Driving to the base yesterday to try and head up, I was met with some light snow falling as well as plenty of blowing snow. If conditions were poor at the base we knew it was going to be a tough ride up. We decided to try anyway and headed up with state park because at the time, conditions at the summit were still good enough for the snow cat to make it but conditions were expected to get worse in the afternoon. We made it up to just past 5300 feet when the winds picked up significantly and the visibility dropped to around 5 feet at times. With that, we turned the snow cat around and had to slowly make our way back down. It took almost an hour just to get back to tree line due to the poor visibility and having to wait for the stronger gusts to lull for visibilities to improve somewhat. Below tree line, the trees help slow the wind down and allowed for the snow to drift on the ground rather than be suspended in the air. We made it back down and headed to the Weather Discovery Center to complete all of our shift change meetings via a video connection to the summit to be able to save time today.

 

Adam Gill, Weather Observer