A Long Awaited Week On The Rockpile In Winter 2015-03-20 16:10:57.000 - Mark Truman, Summit Volunteer   My love affair with the White Mountains and Mt Washington began only about 10 years ago. When my daughter was young we began coming to the mountains with her each summer and we all fell in love with them. In 2007 I turned 50 and gave myself a birthday present – a 4 day hike over the Presidential Range between the AMC huts. The first day of that trip I stood on the summit of Mt Madison, my first 4000 foot peak, and

A Change of Pace 2015-03-18 21:02:36.000 - Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Every once in a while, an opportunity comes along that slightly changes our normal shift week schedule. This past Monday, I departed the summit two days earlier than normal so that I could attend the Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) conference at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts. Every year, Salem State College hosts a career day specifically tailored for young women with the hope of encouraging more females to pursue science, engineering, and other technical fields. This year, hundreds of girls from local middle schools

A Volunteer Week 2015-03-17 16:38:12.000 - Kevin Talbot, Summit Volunteer   Once again I find myself here on the summit of Mount Washington. I am spending another eight days with the crew of the Mount Washington Observatory in their volunteer program, cooking and cleaning for the crew and the various guests. It is a sweet job, but believe me, it is a lot of work! On days when it is my fellow volunteer and good friend Mark Truman, the crew, and me, it is pretty laid back. We only have to provide dinner for ourselves and the crew and do

Model Musings 2015-03-16 17:14:35.000 - Nate Iannuccillo, Summit Intern   With the astronomical winter season coming to a close at the end of the week, it appears that we’ll be receiving some proper winter weather before entering the spring season. Tomorrow will bring snow showers of scattered intensity throughout the day, and we’ll take a look at some of the discrepancies in the intensity of our precipitation as displayed by two different forecasting models. The GFS model, the top synoptic scale model of our National Weather Service, shows showers somewhat scattered, and of varying intensity. But conversely, if we look

The Ever-Changing Mountain 2015-03-15 20:17:47.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   While the valley might be seeing more mixed precipitation, the shoulder seasons are some of the most dangerous parts of the year for people traveling above tree line.   As people familiar with this mountain know, although there may be spring-like weather in the valley, the summit is still in what most people would consider “full-on” winter.  Our average temperature for late March is in the upper teens.  With more moist conditions present with these temperatures, it’s easy to get soaked.  This allows for a serious hypothermia threat

78MPH Wind Gust Recorded at the Base of the Summit 2015-03-14 15:02:55.000 - Dr. Eric Kelsey, Director of Research   Early on Thursday morning at 12:35AM, our mesonet station at the base of the Auto Road recorded a 78 mph wind gust:     Curious, I decided to investigate what caused this burst of wind.    The large scale pattern had a cold front approaching from the NW that night. Pictured below is a map of surface observations just minutes before the front hit the Presidentials:       Winds south of Mount Washington were from the SW at ~10

Waving at Waves 2015-03-13 20:40:55.000 - Nate Iannuccillo, Summit Intern   Last Tuesday, fair weather allowed me to enjoy what proved to be a splendid day of hiking in the alpine zone. While I was thrilled by the good conditions, there was something else that got me really... really…   Ecstatic!   Ok, what the heck was I so excited about?   Lenticular Clouds!   Alright, so what are lenticular clouds? In short, lenticular just means that they form in the shape of a lens, so they look really cool, as you will see.   But first, how do clouds

Wintry Mix Ahead? 2015-03-12 15:57:42.000 - Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Some may have woken up to the sight of a few snow flurries this morning, but these quickly dissipated through the day as a clearing pattern set up for the rest of today and is expected to continue into Friday. Clouds will be steadily decreasing giving way to sunshine this afternoon and evening. An area of high pressure will build into the region midday on Friday, allowing for generally clear skies. But looking ahead toward the weekend, another round of snowfall might be in store! 2AM Saturday morning

A Week on the Summit 2015-03-11 16:42:31.000 - Kendra Furman, Summit Volunteer   I grew up skiing the mountains surrounding Mount Washington looking up in wonder at what appeared to be a castle in the clouds, never thinking I’d be spending a week up here. After having such an amazing week volunteering at MWOBS this past summer, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to volunteer again, this time for a winter week. I was lucky enough to arrange a week off from the Hospital where I work, left Rhode Island at 2:30am last Wednesday and drove north for what could

Life On The Rock In March 2015-03-10 16:53:01.000 - Dennis Rosolen, Summit Volunteer    A beautiful day for my first ride on the sno-cat, quite an experience I tell you. It seemed to be a long ride up with pushing snow and backing up, I wondered if we were going to make it but at last we arrived in good form on the summit. I had the pleasure of being with Kyle, Tom and Mike again this trip and felt very comfortable with the week ahead, what a great bunch of guys. Now, the weather was typical, sunny and clear