Friday the 13th!

2011-05-13 22:20:59.000 – Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist

Sunrise on the 13th.

Today is Friday the 13th! To those who are superstitious or have paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13), today isn’t the best day as it tends to be a very scary day for them. Luckily, none of us working up here have this fear or else nothing would get done since we do some of the things that bring bad luck daily. Some say walking under a ladder can bring bad luck but if you have been up in our weather tower, you know that we have to cross a ladders path every time we go up and down the tower to do a weather observation. And yet, nothing bad has happened. Some say a black cat crossing your path is bad luck, but our summit cat (Marty) is black and crosses our paths daily. And yet, nothing bad has happened. Some say counting crows/ravens is bad luck yet those are the biggest birds we see up here daily so it’s inevitable that we count the amount we see flying around. And yet, nothing bad has happened. Some say left-handedness and yawning are unlucky or evil and yet I do both of these daily. And yet, nothing bad has happened.

I’m sure I could go on and on about broken superstitions we do up here but since none of us are superstitious, if something bad does happen in the next few hours, odds are we aren’t going to look back and blame it on any singular event today. Bad things happen all the time and everything can be blamed on something else if you play the six degrees of separation game. So, I’m not going to cower in a corner and hope for better days. I’ll clean/fix/repair my messes and move on like everyone else up here. And instead of focusing on the bad that today brings, I’m focusing on the good. Today’s weather in New England was spectacular and will possibly be the best we see for quite some time (possibly until the 22nd if the weather models hold true). The weather today allowed us to take in a nice sunrise and sunset. The nice weather also worked in the favor of the Mount Washington Auto Road. According to their blog, they put the finishing touches on the road today which may allow them to open to the summit Saturday for the first time this year (weather pending), their 150th year in operation. The mild weather of recent will also once again allow the cog to run to the summit tomorrow as well. If you are a backcountry skier/boarder, today’s weather was perfect for you. If you are a hiker, kayaker, bird watcher, etc., today was perfect for you as well. But if for some reason you didn’t get out and/or enjoy today’s weather, I wish you better luck next Friday the 13th in 2012.

Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist