Cold Morning

2007-02-05 09:03:43.000 – Brent Antkowiak,  Summit Intern

Virga over the northern peaks…

After several days of gloomy skies and typical visibilities under 1/8 mile, the summit finally broke through the clouds for awhile yesterday. Jim jumped on this chance and took some photos like the one shown here of virga to our north. Virga is basically any form of precipitation that doesn’t reach the ground. With our temperatures and elevation, it is likely a mix of snow and ice crystals. The scene was short lived, lasting only a portion of the few hours of sunlight that we experienced, and by late afternoon we were once again in the fog.

Waking up this morning, I sensed an added rumble to the building that I did not remember last night. “The wind is back,” was my first thought as I could hear the unmistakable tone of the winds crashing against the northwest side of the building. Sure enough, as I checked our weather wall we were sustained around 100 mph with gusts to near 115. Not only was it windy, but we were 24 degrees below zero as well. I don’t think it’s one of those days I’ll be getting out to do some hiking around the summit. And I recommend that if you’re thinking of venturing above tree line that are seriously prepared in your plans as it is dangerously cold up here with wind chills in excess of -80 F!

Brent Antkowiak,  Summit Intern