beautiful summit days

2008-08-22 11:00:35.000 – Stacey Kawecki,  Observer

A picture is worth a thousand words.

For the first time in a long time I will write about the weather, and it will not include the words fog or rain. Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. For quite a few hours, not a cloud was visible in the sky, visibility was up to 90 miles and winds completely died. It has been quite a change. While sitting at this desk, I am completely distracted by the view immediately to my left. The northern Presidentials stand tall and prominent while strips of valley fog slowly bubble up and diminish. The wisps of high clouds look like they have been painted in the sky and if it weren’t for the people already milling about, it would feel like I was looking at a painting or a photograph. It is a picture perfect day. As I’m writing this comment, temperature is 63.5 degrees, winds are a warm breeze out of the east, and relative humidity is a mere 13%. Has summer finally decided to show its fickle face on the summit of Mount Washington, home of the World’s Foggiest Weather? Last night’s sunset seems to think so.

Now for a little “Shift Dynamics”. Our shift has two nicknames. 1) The Food Shift – because we often eat on a Hobbit’s dining schedule with first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, and so on. 2) The Tech Shift – because we have two IT observers and one intern who has a degree in Computer Science. Well, it actually makes a lot of sense for right now, because the Techies (as I so fondly call them) can work together and basically get a lot of stuff done. We do have a big list. As a result, I have taken on a different shift, a 9 am to 9 pm shift so there is some overlap and Mike can accomplish two things: pressing programming problems and studying for his METAR certification.

I haven’t done night obs in a very long time and was ecstatic to be greeted with stars last night. Not only did I get to see stars but I was also treated to a shooting star, the color that can only come from a meteorite entering the atmosphere and burning up before reaching the ground. Tonight I think we’ll be taking out the telescope and contemplating the cosmos.

Stacey Kawecki,  Observer