Sunrise Drive on the Summit 2014-08-31 19:44:56.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist Star Trails and 'Headlight Trails' Before Sunrise This morning was the third and final sunrise drive of the summer! For those of you unfamiliar, these drives, hosted by the Mount Washington Auto Road, allow visitors to drive to the summit in the early morning and watch the sunrise from the summit. In typical Mount Washington fashion however, clouds enveloped the summit a few short hours before sunrise this morning, giving the visitors on the summit a view of many shades of lightening gray fog but not too

Fall means Football! 2014-08-30 20:44:10.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Boomer Sooner! As Ryan mentioned yesterday, fall is certainly right around the corner! In addition to the weather-related changes like falling temperatures, accumulating snow, and the daylight hours growing increasingly shorter, some other things to look forward to include navigating intricately designed corn mazes, picking apples for pies and cider, carving pumpkins, and football! Thursday marked the opening day of college football, and since Arielle and I both graduated from the University of Oklahoma, we're cheering on the Sooners from the highest point in the Northeast as they face

Goodbye To Summer, Hello To Fall 2014-08-29 22:03:15.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Northern Presidentials at Sunset. Labor Day Weekend usually signifies the 'end' of summer for many people since kids head back to school and fall is right around the corner. Labor Day also marks several changes for the summit as well. The first change of note is the weather, especially if you are considering a hike to the summit. September is the month when the summit will typically see the first inch (or more) of snowfall. It also the time of year when rime and glaze ice start

Temperatures are Cooling and Winds are Whistling 2014-08-28 19:40:57.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Winds are ramping up and temperatures are falling! Winds on the summit are currently gusting 50-60 mph and as a Canadian high pressure builds in overnight, temperatures are expected to sink into the mid 30s. This will make for chilly conditions atop the summit with wind chills making it feel like it is 15-25F on exposed skin. A coating of glaze ice is even possible if the fog sticks around and the temperatures manage to make it to the freezing mark.Now is the time

Back to Work 2014-08-27 22:09:58.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Halfway to the summit of Mount Chocorua! It sure was a great off-week! On Monday, my friends Arielle, Andrew, Mercedes, and I were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and hike Mount Chocorua. We had a great time and enjoyed the clear 360 degree views from the summit. Mount Washington stood tall to the north, and we could distantly see the familiar puffs of smoke from the Cog Railway as it chugged along, bringing eager visitors to the 6,288 foot summit. Now we are back to work

While In The Fog... 2014-08-26 13:40:01.000 - Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer Short Range Visibility Markers While most people want to come to the summit of Mount Washington on days where the visibility stretches on for 100 plus miles, those days can be pretty rare. Even during the summer when the weather is much mellower, phenomena like haze, smoke from distant forest fires, and low level clouds can dramatically limit visibility on the summit. The most drastic and common phenomena that obscures the visibility on the summit is fog. On average the summit of Mount Washington is in the fog for

Rises and Sets 2014-08-25 07:32:02.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist A Kitty's Silhouette In a location with a reputation for extreme weather, specifically blustery winds, this shift-week has proven decidedly tame on the summit of Mount Washington.Since our shift arrived last Wednesday, we've maxed out at a scant 34 mph, which occurred during Friday's wee hours. To add to the unusually-calm conditions, our average wind direction for the week is oddly-noteworthy as well, with most of our winds this week coming from the east-northeast. These are, generally speaking, the most uncommon wind directions at our weather station, meaning four

A fine end to the day! 2014-08-23 21:13:17.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Sunset on 08-23-14 Some of the most peaceful moments I have had up here on the summit are spent watching sunset from the rocks just outside. It can be very relaxing after a long day of work to feel like you have the whole mountain to yourself, and sometimes the true king of the mountain, Marty, joins us and steps outside to gaze upon his domain. We had a very nice sunset today on the summit, with all of the summit staff (including Marty) able to take

Great to be Back! 2014-08-21 14:54:30.000 - Caleb Meute,  Summit Intern NULL Well I had been away from the summit for a month and I can't even put into words how excited I am to be back up here. I had taken a vacation from the internship for a family reunion down in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Unfortunately the way it works with the two crews switching weeks on and off, if you take a week off, you are off of the mountain for three weeks. Then when you add an additional week to switch shifts it's a long 4

A Volunteer Week 2014-08-20 18:10:19.000 - Gil, Carol & Dawn,  Summit Volunteers NULL Amazing! Unforgettable! Unique! Incredible! These words do not begin to describe what we have experienced during our volunteer week at the Mount Washington Observatory. Our week began with zero visibility, rain, low 40 degree temperatures and 80 mph wind gusts. We depart with clear skies, a beautiful sunrise and no wind. If hiking the Presidentials, viewing beautiful sunrises, sunsets and experiencing extreme weather sound appealing you should consider volunteering a week of you time! We became a part of the MWO and MWO Museum family. Gil and