Changing of Seasons

2014-05-01 18:53:45.000 – Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist

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It’s funny how an end of an era on the summit generally coincides with the changing of the seasons. Sometimes I suspect the mountain is conscious of all the changes that are constantly occurring within the walls of the Observatory.

Once again, this week, it’s time to bid farewell to another co-worker. We seem to be experts at this point, as we’ve been experiencing lots of staff turnover over the last year. At the end of this shift, we’ll be saying goodbye to our summit intern, Sam Hewitt, who joined our shift back in September. Sam has been a summit intern with the Observatory for 8 months now, and has been a true asset to our operations. From giving exemplary tours of the weather station (maybe you’ve had one!), to taking major strides in accurately digitizing our entire historical data set, he’s certainly filled many crucial roles in his time up here, and has left a very positive stamp on MWO and all of our staff!

Concurrently, with the departure of Sam, we herald the ending of quite a brutal winter season, but also the dawn of summer 2014, which will bring some big changes to MWO, including our new summit museum.

As we ascended the summit yesterday for Sam’s last shift, we snapped an image that, in my opinion, quintessentially captures the changing of the guards from winter to summer: the annual ‘Cragway Drift’, which is generally the portion of the Auto Road that sees the deepest snows, and hence, has the most dramatic carve-out in the spring season. The remnants of a long winter, and the promise of a warm and bright summer are both evident!

Pictured here is my shift in the shadow of this mammoth drift, including (from left to right): myself, Tom Padham (weather observer/meteorologist), Mike Kyle (weather observer), and Sam Hewitt (summit intern).

Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist