Glory

2011-12-01 14:16:40.000 – Kevin Cronin,  Summit Intern

Glory

Yesterday a shortwave moving through the New England area kept us in the clouds and provided us with upslope snow showers in the afternoon. However, the weather is magnificent on the summit today as colder dryer air filters in from Canada. The fog cleared up this morning allowing us to see a rime encrusted summit once again. Temperatures are hovering in the lower 20s but these temperatures are normal for this time of year. Undercast could be seen below the summit giving the summit staff a great view out the weather room window.

The educational observer for our shift, Rick Giard, noticed an optical phenomena out our weather room windows while taking an observation this morning. If you look very closely at the photo you can see a faint semicircle glory just left of Mount Clay. Glory’s appear when the sun’s rays back-scatter off of cloud droplets to the eyes of the observer. In order to see a glory an observer must be stationed in-between a cloud and the sun and the sun must be at a low angle. When the cloud droplets are uniform within the cloud a glory can be quite distinctive. Glories are typically seen in airplanes or atop mountains due to the fact that you are between the clouds and the sun.

Kevin Cronin,  Summit Intern