When Friends Become Family 2014-11-23 18:57:20.000 - Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   There’s hardly ever a dull moment on the summit. If we’re not forecasting, taking hourly observations, providing live interactive programs to students in classrooms, strengthening our IT network, composing weather summaries, shoveling, hosting an overnight trip, or completing so many of the other tasks necessary to maintain a mountaintop weather station, we can usually be found enjoying each other's company by working on our poker faces, trying to beat the other team in corn hole, catching up on episodes of Modern Family, determining the Boggle champ, talking

Blowing Snow on the Summit 2014-11-22 17:42:36.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Mount Washington is in the fog around 60 percent of the year, but fog isn’t the only thing that can reduce visibility here on the summit. Blowing snow occurs quite frequently in the wintertime, making for hazardous travel conditions. The most severe cases occur with high wind events after newly fallen snow events; events that can be just as disorienting to hikers as fog. While the blowing snow we received this morning was mild for Mount Washington standards, it was still a reminder of what’s to

Novemburrrrr! 2014-11-21 15:45:06.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   One month from today (Sunday, December 21), astronomical winter begins for the Northern Hemisphere. However it seems winter didn’t look at the calendar this year and decided to jump the gun bringing winter a month early for most of the country including the summit of Mount Washington. Take today for instance, we are seeing temperatures hovering around -3F (-19C), winds averaging 60-80 mph, light snow showers, blowing snow, and dense fog. It certainly looks and feels more like mid-January than mid-November. With mid-January like conditions, we have to take mid-January like

All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Lake Effect Snow 2014-11-20 22:21:02.000 - Kaitlyn O'Brien, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   All eyes have shifted to western New York, where areas of the state have received crippling lake effect snow (and it's not over yet!). But what exactly is lake effect snow and why does it occur? How can bodies of water have such a large influence on snowfall totals? Every year between November and January, lake effect snow events bring several feet of snow to lake bordering cities such as Cleveland, OH, Erie, PA, and Buffalo, NY. While the Great Lakes

When do the Coldest Temperatures Occur? 2014-11-19 19:43:03.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   After I was done with my shift today, I stumbled upon a really interesting graphic. Posted by the National Climatic Data Center, this map shows the dates of the record lows from 1981-2010 across the United States. It is immediately evident that the East Coast gets cold temperatures much later in the year than the plains out west. Although there are many reasons for this, one of the more prominent contributing factors has to do with the albedo, or reflectance, of the ground. The Rocky

Our New Forecasting Tool 2014-11-18 00:16:00.000 - Michael Kyle, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   This week the observatory is proud to accept a friendly IT donation from the NH-based firm PaulMarv Software (www.paulmarv.com) of their industrial weather model analysis software: ATMOGRAPH ModelVis. Our observers will be able to sharpen their forecasting accuracy by examining the raw weather model data forecast output in AtmoGraph’s patent-pending 3D globe mapping environment, as opposed to relying on older methods of weather model display which are unable to zoom into the fine local resolution which forecasting in the White Mountains requires. AtmoGraph also allows us to

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly 2014-11-17 17:25:59.000 - Michael Kyle, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   The Good When I started my shift early this morning the radar was showing snow across much of the state. With some heavy bands passing through much of Southern New Hampshire and Maine, and slowly pushing their way towards the White Mountain Range. During my first observation this morning I reported a temperature of 22, which was a 7 degree jump from the prior hour. This was the first sign of the invading warm air and that the snow was not going to last

Volunteer's Comments 2014-11-16 16:01:34.000 - Marcia Millard, Summit Volunteer   They say life is an adventure, and being up here on Mt Washington sure is! But let's just say, the crews from the Observatory and Mount Washington State Park are having a very interesting one. Lots of changes and work are currently going on, so living and working conditions are a little tough at the moment. But all the construction will be worth it in the end, because it will make this place much more enjoyable! A very enjoyable place to volunteer, take a winter day trip, or perhaps even an

Oh Hello Winter 2014-11-15 14:56:25.000 - Caleb Meute, Summit Intern   Well, upsloping winds and persistent snow showers would pretty well define the last 24 hours. Yesterday it was looking like the skies would clear overnight and the summits would trend out of the fog. Yeah, that did not happen. As I went to sleep I did not anticipate the amount of shoveling that would have to be done when I woke up. Overnight, the summits remained socked in the fog and snow showers caused by upsloping winds fell throughout the whole night. Upslope snow showers were not picked up

Bunk Room Construction 2014-11-14 16:56:43.000 - Mike Carmon, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   A big change is in the works at the summit weather station. If you’ve ever visited our weather station, and more specifically our living quarters, you know that our bunk rooms were in need of some serious upgrades. Well, thanks to several generous donations of time and funds, our bunk rooms are in the midst of a complete overhaul! It’s been quite the project, which has consisted of first a complete demo of all of the rooms, which is now being followed up with a revamping and reconstruction