Another Beautiful Day on the Summit

2013-11-09 18:14:29.000 – Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer

Pile D’Assiettes (Pile of Plates) Cloud to the NE

Another beautiful day has come and gone on the summit. Although the fog only cleared out late in the afternoon, foggy days are almost as exciting and fun as clear days. At every observation, I could see the feathers of rime ice outside grow several inches, until they were 2-foot-long daggers protruding at an angle from the deck.

As many of you know, it is challenging to keep up with the rime ice growth here on the summit. Because of our high winds and icing conditions, we’ve even adopted the same technology used in airplanes to measure airspeed. Even still, our instruments need to be de-iced every hour we’re both in the fog and below freezing to keep them from becoming entombed in rime ice. In the dead of winter, doing this and shoveling the entrances may be the only outdoor exercise we get while on shift due to the windy and icy conditions outside.

If you want to get to the summit in the winter to see these amazing ice structures but don’t want to do it on foot, we offer both day trips and overnight edutrips. We hope to see you on the summit!

Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer