Clear (but slightly windy) conditions!

2012-08-30 17:21:49.000 – Stephen Lanciani,  Summit Intern

Active Hays wind chart

Yesterday was the first day of my second shift as a fall intern, and I was treated to sub-freezing temperatures with wind chills in the teens upon arrival. Welcome back. If that’s not a wake up call that winter is on its way, then I don’t know what is. Winds have been going strong since yesterday and are steadily increasing today. We’ve seen sustained winds between 50 and 60 mph so far, gusting up to max of 73.8 mph around 3:30pm. For the record, that is 0.2 mph under Category 1 hurricane force…bummer. The forecast is for sustained speeds between 65 and 85 mph overnight and into tomorrow, with possible gusts just under 100 mph. Seeing that I’m a rookie up here, you can guess that my excitement meter has been off the charts all day. I am almost guaranteed to experience hurricane force winds over the next 24 hours, with a slight chance of even pushing the century mark! And it’s only my second week of a four-month gig up here, talk about awesome weather. It might be a late “wind chasing” night for me, if that’s an actual term.

If you have yet to make it up to the summit this year, or at all, this weekend is your chance. The Labor Day holiday gives everyone not an extra day to come up, but extra time to recover from such a breathtaking experience up here. Not to mention that over the next few weeks conditions will drastically change, with snowfall just around the corner! If you don’t want to hike, you can drive. If you don’t want to drive, you can take a guided stage line tour on the Auto Road. If you don’t want to travel by road, you can take the Cog Railway. If you don’t want to take The Cog or any of these four options…that’s all I got. I would think at least one of these four options works for you! Should you choose to come up and you are not a member of the Observatory, make sure to go to the summit museum and sign up. You can enjoy all the benefits of membership as well as visit us for a behind the scenes tour! Hope to see you up here soon, on top of the Northeast’s highest peak.

Stephen Lanciani,  Summit Intern