Sunny and Mild 2015-04-13 06:28:12.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   If one had to summarize Monday in three words it would be “sunny and mild.” While these three words will be departing our vocabulary a bit Monday night into Tuesday, they will be returning to the region for the midweek. High pressure, which will be providing the fair weather on Monday, will be sliding offshore heading into Monday night as a low approaches to our northwest. As the low passes to our north, it will be dragging a trailing weak cold front with it, which will approach from

Glaze Ice Galore 2015-04-11 14:38:14.000 - Nate Iannuccillo, Summit Intern   It’s crazy to think that since I started interning in mid-January, I had yet to see temperatures above freezing on the summit until just yesterday, when we peaked at 44˚F in the afternoon.  These temperatures brought about a slew of different weather phenomena as we transitioned through the freezing line. I found the abundance of glaze ice yesterday morning to be particularly interesting, so I figured I would talk about it a little bit. So what is glaze ice? Back in February, I explained the formation of rime ice, and

Spring is Coming! 2015-04-10 16:47:09.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   While the valleys have been experiencing on-again, off-again spring weather for the last few weeks, the summit has generally still been in full-on winter mode. We only recently broke our streak of below-freezing temperatures a few days ago on April 3rd! But in the weeks ahead we will be slowly transitioning into summer "warmth" (think 40-60 degrees) and seasonal risk of thunderstorms! The front that brought severe storms to the Midwest yesterday is passing over us this afternoon and is resulting in some lightning strikes to our north

Do April Showers Really Bring May Flowers? 2015-04-09 17:34:17.000 - Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   We have all heard that April showers bring May flowers! But do you think the flowers will be extra pretty in May because the April showers seem to be of the snowy consistency?  That's the story again for this weekend, which currently looks to be quite the mix. Friday will see an area of low pressure moving over the Great Lakes region, ushering plenty of moisture into the Northeast. Ahead of the low, a warm front will pass, allowing temperatures to rise. However, as

Observing the Observers 2015-04-08 20:10:04.000 - Brenda and Preston Conklin, Summit Volunteers   Our shift ran Wednesday to Wednesday, April 1-8. The Bombardier Sno-Cat brought us up the Auto Road bumping and shimmying, often times pushing drifted snow as we proceeded by birch poles marking the edge of the road. Some stuck up only inches from the snow road's surface, even though some of the markers are over 10 feet high. Occasionally pavement was bare due to the windblown conditions, especially near the top.   The Observatory staff was generous to let us ride up front. Our driver, John, offered

Interesting Snow (And Lots Of It!) 2015-04-07 21:17:48.000 - Adam Freierman, Summit Intern   What a weekend! Above freezing temperatures and warm wet fog really decimated our snowpack on Friday. The summit cone was showing more sedge than snow and the cols and peaks along the ridgeline were looking pretty rocky. Things quickly got wintery again on the rockpile, however, as we’ve picked up 22“ of snow since Saturday and our snowpack is now deeper than it been for most of the winter. This snowfall has been a bit different than most we have seen this winter as well. Slightly

Chocolate, Snow, and King Marty 2015-04-06 17:05:57.000 - Mike Carmon, Interim Director of Summit Operations   Easter has come and gone on the summit, and most of the staff up here won’t be able to look at chocolate for quite a while. I may have gone a little overboard with the amount of candy I brought up for the holiday. But I can safely say it was enjoyed by all yesterday! Between the candy, snacks, appetizers, the awesome meal cooked by our volunteers, and the inevitable dessert, it was surely a holiday fit for a king!  King Marty, on the

Happy Easter! 2015-04-05 17:36:23.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   We’ve seen a large variety of weather this week, with signs of spring on the horizon across the high peaks of New England but plenty of wintry weather as well. The summit broke above freezing for the first time in over 80 days, with our first liquid precipitation of the year the overnight of the 2nd into the 3rd. Winter came rushing back in not long after this, however, with the summit picking up nearly 8 inches (or roughly 4 marshmallow peeps) of snow yesterday along with temperatures bottoming out

A Great End To Winter Trip Season! 2015-04-04 19:58:53.000 - Adam Freierman, Summit Intern   Last night at the Observatory our shift hosted our final climbing trip of the season. Throughout the winter it has been a pleasure welcoming climbing trips and educational overnight trips into our home on the summit. These folks always arrive at the Observatory with enthusiasm to get an extended peek at life on top, and usually a bit of gratefulness to have a refuge from the wild weather outside. Eight days on top of a mountain in winter can feel like a lot longer, and

The Streak Has Ended 2015-04-03 19:39:06.000 - Michael Kyle, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Yesterday at around 7:30 PM the summit’s temperature reached a reading greater than 32°F for the first time in 87 days. That 87 day stretch of below-freezing temperatures is tied for the 5th longest, for days with temperatures below freezing since 1935. This was the first time in 37 years that the summit saw more than 80 consecutive days with temperatures not exceeding the freezing point! For many reasons, this has been an impressive winter across New England. While it was fun seeing how long this streak