A Beautiful Day

2009-02-16 21:07:13.000 – Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist

Franconia Ridge in a sea of clouds

Today was one of those rare, calm days on the summit that occurs at most a handful of times each winter. In fact, today was by far the nicest and calmest day that my shift has seen since winter started. Winds literally went completely calm for a period of time this afternoon. As much as the staff on the summit loves the extreme weather that we see so often, getting a day like this is a treat in its own way.

The first thing that anyone on the summit staff wants to on a nice day like this is get out and get some fresh air. Through the day, we made sure that everyone had their chance. I was first up; I headed out at about 11 a.m. to ski down the Southeast Snowfields and then hike over to Lion Head. Once there, I met up with our marketing and communications coordinator Cara Rudio who was hiking up from Pinkham Notch. It was her first time climbing the mountain in the winter and she got the perfect day for that first ascent.

After I got back and took over the observations, Mike and Ali went for a hike over to Mt. Clay to watch sunset. Ryan and the volunteers (Win and John) went for short trip over to Ball Crag. Regardless of where we were, the entire staff, and our German guest as well, were treated to a fantastic undercast off to the west and northwest of the mountain (also seen in the picture attached to this comment).

Tomorrow should be another nice day, although winds will be a little higher at about 15-30 mph. Unfortunately, I have way too much work to do on Tuesdays to even think about getting out for a hike. That makes having the opportunity to get out for some exercise today, that much better!

Observer Footnote: Don’t forget that this coming Thursday, February 19th the Observatory will be presenting an exclusive slide show by National Geographic Photojournalist Jose Azel in the Grand Ballroom at the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel in Bartlett, NH. This fundraiser will be a fantastic opportunity to get to get the behind the scenes look at the article about Mount Washington in the most recent issue of National Geographic, called “Backyard Arctic”. For more information, or to order tickets (they are only $20!) go here.

Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist