Four S’s

2014-08-11 12:31:02.000 – Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer

The Four S’s

Yesterday was a very exciting day here on the summit of Mount Washington. The day started off with a beautiful sunrise, and only got better from there. During the afternoon, thunderstorms began to develop along the Northern New Hampshire/Maine boarder and travel south towards the White Mountains. By the end of my shift the thunderstorms were quickly approaching the Presidential Range. Contrary to the norm, the summit refrained from going into the clouds, giving us great views of the approaching thunderstorm and its associated phenomena. When the thunderstorm finally reached the summit, the show continued with frequent flashes of lightning, claps of thunder, and showers of hail. After the thunderstorms passed, the day’s excitement continued. When the threat of lightning ended, the summit crew went outside to watch the sunset. While we were outside, not only did we have a great view of the setting sun but, we also were able to watching distant thunderstorms passing by to our Northwest. The day came to a conclusion by watching all this natural beauty, while we enjoyed our dessert of s’more in honor of national s’mores day. Put all this together and it makes for a day of the four S’s: Sunrise, Severe Weather, Sunset, and S’mores.

Observer footnote: Join us, Wednesday August 13th, as we continue our free summer lecture series Science in the Mountains! Tomorrow night’s presentation will focus on Severe Weather in the White Mountains, and will start at 7PM at the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway. We’ll see you there!

Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer