EST to EDT
2009-03-08 10:51:03.000 – Steve Welsh, IT Observer
Daylight savings time started today. This convention of advancing clocks forward an hour in the spring is used to benefit retailing and sports but on the downside it causes problems for farmers and other activities tied to the sun. Well the climatic data we collect up here at the observatory is tied to the sun so we don’t advance our clocks.
This causes me a couple of problems. Firstly I never know what time it is – is that “obs time” (Eastern Standard Time – EST) or “valley time” (Eastern Daylight Time – EDT)? Secondly it also confuses our computers, and being the IT guy up here at the moment, I ended up spending several hours this morning fixing local settings and database scripts that somehow managed to reference EDT instead of EST. You may have noticed our web server displayed a “no data” message for a while this morning – we’ll we had data it was just trying to access data for one hour in the future. Confused? – well I sure was! I wish daylight savings time would go away like it has in many other countries that finally figured out it was just not worth it – after all midday should be the time the sun is at it’s highest point in the sky.
On a side note I’d like to mention that the second group of German students made it down safely yesterday. We are now only six people on the summit quite a change from the twenty we had yesterday at this time (EST).
Steve Welsh, IT Observer
Team Flags Return for Seek the Peak’s 25th Anniversary
Team Flags Return for Seek the Peak's 25th Anniversary By MWOBS Staff Mount Washington Observatory is looking forward to continuing a much-loved tradition for Seek the Peak’s 25th Anniversary: Team flags. In inviting teams
Meet Summer Interns Zakiya, Max and Maddie
Meet Summer Interns Zakiya, Max and Maddie By MWOBS Staff We are excited to welcome six teammates to the summit of Mount Washington this summer! During their internship, these students and graduates will play
Saying Goodbye to the Summit
Saying Goodbye to the Summit By Alexis George After an extraordinary last three years working as a Weather Observer and Meteorologist, I am excited to pursue a different career. As sad I as am