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

Eaton is our newest sponsor 2014-08-19 23:18:07.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Representatives from Eaton at the Summit I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Eaton as our newest sponsor. Eaton is a power management company providing energy-efficient solutions that help their customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power more efficiently in more than 175 countries.Since 2008 the Mount Washington Observatory has been using an Eaton UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) as a buffer to protect our valuable computer systems and instruments from power surges due to lightning strikes and to bridge the gap between a loss

Busy Times for Extreme Mount Washington 2014-08-18 21:05:23.000 - Andrew Tucker & AJ Grimes,  Summit Museum Attendants NULL It's been a busy week at Extreme Mount Washington! Although the weather hasn't been the greatest, we have seen scores of hardy visitors arriving each day to experience the mountain. We have had events this week that brought in guests to enjoy the information that our museum has to offer. The Mount Washington Auto Road Hillclimb brought several visitors from all around the world to enjoy the experience. The museum was filled with great athletes that completed an enormous feat of climbing

Ice Bucket Challenge 2014-08-17 11:48:38.000 - Arielle Ahrens,  Summit Intern One of the current trends you may see happening is the Ice Bucket Challenge. People are posting videos where they pour a bucket of ice water over their heads and nominate their friends to do the same. But why are they doing this? It seems a little silly to just pour ice water on your head. But the Ice Bucket challenge isn't just a trend - it's a tool people are using to spread awareness about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as "Lou Gehrig's disease". You can learn more

A Cool And Foggy Race Day 2014-08-16 18:33:23.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist First Place at todays MWAR Bicycle Hillclimb The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb took place this morning. As the competitors arrived on the summit, they were greeted with temperatures in the upper 30s (F or around 4C) and winds around 30 mph (around 48 Km/hr) which meant on bare skin, it felt more like 25-30F (or 0 to 4C below zero). I'm sure the competitors felt this a bit but with muscles straining and adrenaline up, it probably wasn't nearly as noticeable as it was to