Exciting Final Shift

2008-07-18 21:16:23.000 – Matthew Morin,  Space Grant Intern

Lenticular Clouds

January 29th, 2008. That is a red letter day in the history of my life. I started my internship at the Mount Washington Observatory on that day and loved it from the start. At first, I couldn’t even fathom the idea that I would ever witness such an extensive variety of spectacular meteorological phenomena. Several months and hundreds of weather pictures later, I gathered my best photographs and posted them into my “Unusual Weather Phenomena Photo Gallery”, a trilogy of Observer Comments.

I’m thankful for having the pleasure to meet some of the most interesting people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. This group includes volunteers, interns, observers, and other MWO/State Park employees. I could go into even more details about my experiences here on the summit during the last six months, but you can find those in my past observer comments. For this comment, I will mainly focus on my remaining days as an MWO intern.

This week’s weather seemed like a meteorological “grand finale” for my internship experience atop Mount Washington. Some of the most interesting aspects of this week include lenticular clouds, a picturesque sunset, and severe weather. Today’s severe weather featured heavy rain, high winds gusting up to 87.5 mph, lightning striking very close by, and even a tornado warning issued for Grafton County (in southern NH).

After the passage of a few rather intense thunderstorms this afternoon, I went out for a walk around the summit to get some fresh air and to photograph nearby storm clouds. As I looked out towards the northern Presidential Range, I thought about the magnitude of the landscape’s transition from winter into spring and then into summer.

Besides the breathtaking vistas, I will undoubtedly miss my co-workers here. However, I will especially miss the feline summit mascot, Marty. This cat, who won the Mount Washington Mascot Primary, has been a constant source of entertainment, happiness, and welcomed distractions. I’ve taken more pictures of Marty than I want to admit. Interestingly enough, “Marty” wrote two observer comments this year where he posted some of the best of the best of his pictures taken by myself and the other staff here. If you want a good laugh, I recommend checking out these comments which are found in our observer comments archive.

This is indeed the end of an amazing chapter in my life. I only hope the next chapter, entrance into the Graduate Program in Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University, will be able to match, if not top, this experience. Though I will be living 15 hours away from this summit, I will make it one of my long term goals to find my way back here. Mount Washington and its associated experiences are just too wonderful to forever leave behind.

Matthew Morin,  Space Grant Intern