Forecasting woes

2010-06-13 16:43:50.000 – Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist

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I went down the mountain yesterday in order to attend, and present at, the Observatory’s Annual Meeting. This meeting gives an opportunity for our members to connect more intimately with the organization, and also for those members to connect with staff like myself, as well as our board of trustees. The event went off without a hitch (thanks Karen!) and a good time was had by all. If you missed out this year, be sure to watch for an announcement about the Annual Meeting around this time next year. My only ‘complaint’ is that my attendance made me miss what seems to have been a rather spectacular sunset on the summit last night!

As Mike mentioned yesterday, the weather on the summit has been particularly fickle and difficult to forecast lately. Why has this been the case? Well, that is not a question that has a clear answer. Sometimes it is just the nature of mountain weather, as well as the inherit uncertainty within the science of meteorology that causes forecasts to go wrong. Today has been no different unfortunately. The data pointed to a ‘mostly in the clear’ day, but we have ended up being mostly in the clouds since late this morning.

In the end, we just recognize this as one of the many challenges of working on Mount Washington. However, the way I see it, these challenges are what make our jobs more exciting!

Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist