Goodbye to Summer, Hello to Winter

2014-10-08 20:20:00.000 – Mike Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist

This morning, I was startled awake at 4:40 by an extremely loud clap of thunder.While most people would roll over in their bed and fall back asleep, I knew my alarm was going to go off in another five minutes, so I sat up and enjoyed the show!I slowly packed the rest of my gear in my bag, trying not to wake up my girlfriend as the lightning lit up the room like a strobe.After saying goodbye for the week, I was off and driving through torrential downpours for much of the way from my apartment in Bath, ME to the base of the summit.

It’s been a great summer!I’ve enjoyed thunderstorms not only in the northeast, but also took a three-week vacation travelling across the US where I saw some pretty impressive storms.With the summer storm season coming to an end (colder fall weather generally tends to have limited instability that leads to severe storm development), I’m getting excited for a whole different type of extreme weather here on the summit – frequent strong winds and rime ice!With temperatures dropping overnight, the summit should be solidly below freezing from tonight through Sunday, even bottoming out in the upper teens!We’ll likely see our most significant icing event of the season, with rime ice building up on everything on the summit!

With winter imminent, our trip season will soon be in full swing!The Mount Washington Observatory hosts both day trips and overnight trips here on the summit, offering the public a firsthand opportunity to experience the extreme weather the summit has to offer. If you’d like to sign up for a day trip or an overnight here on the summit, please visit our website.

Mike Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist