A quiet morning…

2007-02-24 08:29:17.000 – Neil Lareau,  Observer

NULL

A quiet morning on the mountain:

Better than half the crew is sick this morning and with yesterday’s Edutrip and Radio hosts now departed the morning is comparatively quiet. The winds are still strong enough to create some rumbling and hissing, but I’ve become so accustomed to this noise that it just blends into the ambient auditory landscape. Temperatures have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride; up to 13, down to -16, back to 9 all less than 24 hours. We are currently warming up on a north wind; not unheard of, but certainly not typical. I recall a day in January 2004 when a north wind warmed temperatures from -45 up to the single digits in just 12 hours. This scenario typically occurs when a strong storm becomes stationary over the Canadian Maritimes and wraps the warm front all the way up and over the northern side of the pressure system. Looking at a surface analysis confirms this scenario; a warm front is indicated just north of Maine with intense low pressure out over the Maritimes.

To date February has been cold and windy, which is of course no surprise. Over the past 23 days the average temperature has been -5.7 degrees. The wind speed has averaged 57.7 mph; that is extremely windy. Winds have exceeded hurricane force (74 mph) on all but two days this month. Winds have topped 100 mph on 9 of those days. As such, the prospect of low winds and seasonably warm temperatures for the coming week is an exciting one. But today is not yet over, and stepping out the door on the observation deck shatters the quiet of the morning. North winds gusting into the 80s make reading the thermometers an exercise in misery; my feet loose snow from the wind slab on the ground, snow that then whips across my face. The wind resonates the metal A-frame in such an alarming fashion that all of your senses suggest that this is a dangerous place to be. It is warmer though and the wind has a bit less bite than yesterday.

Neil Lareau,  Observer