Did You Forget About This Kitty? 2015-03-09 09:42:33.000 - Marty (Summit Cat), Translated by Mike Carmon   Haven't purred from me in a while, huh? There's a simple reason for that--I've been quite busy with my cat-naps and never-ending buffets of kitty treats (with a side of nip, of course). This winter has been way too cold for me(ow). I may be a Maine Coon, but even these frigid temperatures have been way too much for my delicate senses to handle. I've had to keep myself barred indoors for most of the winter, despite the observers attempting to lure me

A Dream Of Spring 2015-03-08 17:02:10.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   With the bulk of a cold and snowy winter behind us, I find myself dreaming of the warmer and longer days of summer. This brought me to the question: when does Mount Washington typically see its last snowfall? It can snow at any point atop the Rockpile, with snow being recorded every month of the year. I’ve personally seen snow fall in the month of June. But on an average year we see a roughly 2-3 month period with snowfall not exceeding an inch. Looking into the climatology,

Sixty One Days and Counting 2015-03-07 19:02:13.000 - Michael Kyle, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   The last time the summit saw a temperature above 32°F was 61 days ago, back on 1/04/2015. The average temperature since then is 1°F below zero. Within that 61 day span there was a 5 day block where temperatures didn’t rise above zero! Compared to past winters 61 days isn’t that bad. In the winter of 1960 temperatures remained below freezing for 106 days, lasting from 12/14/1959 till 3/28/1960. The 5 days of sub-zero temperatures, this year is less than half of the 12 days’ worth

Learning From The Best 2015-03-06 19:52:36.000 - Adam Freierman, Summit Intern   My main objective for my eight or so weeks that I will spend as an intern here at the Observatory is to learn as much as I can about meteorology. Spending time every day studying models and working on forecasts I end up with a lot of questions about what I’m seeing. Sometimes I can get answers by reading discussions written by our night observers, or ones put out by the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. Other questions are better solved by reading through books we have

The Winds of March 2015-03-05 14:11:11.000 - Michael Kyle, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   After the long brutal winter New England has been seeing so far this year, we are all looking for a slight break.  Like Tom mentioned yesterday, that break seems to be likely in coming days. This made me think about the old saying “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” I then asked myself, “How accurate is its meaning is for the summit of Mount Washington? Does that saying even apply up here?To get a quick and simple answer to these questions, I looked through our

Signs of Spring on the Horizon? 2015-03-04 20:45:35.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   After a very cold and snowy February across New England, we may be seeing signs of changes ahead for the month of March. After a chilly next few days with arctic air locked over the region as it has been for much of the winter, temperatures look to be in the 30s and even lower 40s by the end of the weekend across all of New Hampshire. What’s responsible for this expected warm up? The main driving force is a major change in the jet stream.

Second Coldest February on Record for the Summit 2015-03-03 14:09:31.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   A project that has been ongoing since I arrived here back in December of 2005 is the digitizing of our weather records into a database. If you are a long-time follower of the Observer Comments (i.e. this blog), you know some of the difficulties our interns/full-time staff have encountered in this process, first in entering the data but also regarding quality control of the data. Year by year we have chipped away at entering our data and are (hopefully) nearing the light at

Profiling More Precipitation 2015-03-02 20:01:13.000 - Nate Iannuccillo, Summit Intern   You have probably noticed that we have gotten quite a bit of snow this winter, and if you have been paying attention to the forecasts, you know that there’s more en route to New England tomorrow night. However, this storm system will be a little different from those experienced in the past month. It will begin as a typical “Alberta Clipper” with low pressure forming over northwestern Canada. This time, instead of moving towards New England, upper air patterns will keep the low pressure center far to our North.

Wanted: Summer Interns! 2015-03-01 21:41:39.000 - Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Every summer, fall, and winter, the Observatory searches for interns who are interested in learning about extreme weather while assisting with the daily tasks required to run a mountaintop weather station. We are currently seeking enthusiastic students, recent graduates, and qualified weather enthusiasts who are looking for an adventure this summer! The last day to submit applications is this Thursday, March 5, 2015. To find out more information about this exciting opportunity, and to apply, please see our Internship page.    Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

New Webcam Views from Wildcat! 2015-02-28 20:21:57.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   We are excited to unveil our new and improved camera pointing towards the Presidential Range from the summit of Wildcat Mountain Ski Area! This includes several different improved zoomed-in views of Huntington Ravine, Tuckerman Ravine and the Gulf of Slides! As a snow lover, I am personally really excited to see this happen! These pictures can be accessed by members with their log-on here, and a zoomed-out picture of Tuckerman, Huntington and the summit is available to the public. You won’t only get access to these