Lightning Tidbit 2014-08-07 19:18:27.000 - Brett Rossio,  Summit Intern NULL The day started with a quiet morning on the summit, but gave way to a busy start to the afternoon. A couple thunderstorms rolled through the summits, yielding some pea sized hail showers. Our shift leader, Mike Carmon posted some great pictures of the hail on our Facebook page! For meteorologists, this is what makes us jump out of our seats. Thunderstorms are truly a treat up here, but also very dangerous. Though the chances of getting struck by lightning are slim; standing on the summit completely exposed becomes exponentially

The Week-On/Week-Off Lifestyle 2014-08-06 17:07:49.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Washington from Mt. Isolation Working as an observer on the summit of Mount Washington, life is far from any semblance of what most would consider 'normal.' There's the unique living environment, the not-so-typical commute, and then there's that crazy weather that we like to harp on.One of the more interesting facets to summit life is the week-on/week-off work schedule--something that is necessitated by the extreme environment we find ourselves in. As one can imagine, keeping such a schedule does have its advantages, and some drawbacks as well. Being atop

Wimpy Weather, but Wonderful Week 2014-08-05 18:32:53.000 - Joshua P. Cohen,  Summit Volunteer NULL From July 30th through August 6th Tom Henell and I spent a fantastic week atop the Northeast's highest peak, volunteering for the Mount Washington Observatory. Having your temporary home at the summit of a mountain is an adventure. In some ways there's isolation from one's everyday existence. In my case, I felt removed from the routine of living in Beacon Hill and working on the Boston campus of Tufts University. In other ways there's bonding with your fellow summit inhabitants; a fun, humorous, intelligent, and motivated

Family Time 2014-08-04 22:17:12.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL It's been a very busy day on the summit! In between radio calls, giving tours, connecting with the Weather Discovery Center for Live from the Rockpile segments, taking hourly observations, performing daily data quality checks, and hosting our Vasque syndicate thru-hiker, I still found time to visit with family today when they came up on the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Everyone enjoyed their time on the summit, and it was so great to take a break from the normal daily routine and visit with them!If you are looking to

Be Weather Aware 2014-08-03 13:31:21.000 - Arielle Ahrens,  Summit Intern NULL The lack of weather awareness among hikers is surprising to me. Not to say that all hikers are not weather aware, but a good chunk of them are. On Thursday, we received thunderstorms up here on the summit, which included frequent cloud-to-cloud lightning and several cloud-to-ground bolts. Even the summit received a direct strike. This is not uncommon because the summit is often enveloped by the cloud that contains the thunderstorm as it passes through the peaks. Lightning Safety Awareness Week occurred in June and Ryan wrote two comments

Working Nights on the Summit 2014-08-02 23:16:29.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist Taking a Nighttime Observation With the famous Mount Washington Observatory meteorologist Ryan Knapp on vacation, I am working nights in his lieu. As a night owl, I love working nights! My shift starts at 8:30 PM and lasting until 8:30 AM, and I take hourly observations, work on data quality checks, change charts, and create a higher summits forecast, among other things. I have to keep my eyes adjusted to the dark, so I change the color of my computer screen to red and use the red

A Great Friday 2014-08-02 00:45:21.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist A Birthday Celebration Happy Friday everyone! We hope everyone had a wonderful first day of August! Can you believe it's August already!? Today turned out to be extremelyhazy, but the haze sure did provide some nice color this evening as thesunset was briefly visible when we momentarily broke out of the clouds.Life on the summit is really no different from life in the valley,especially when it comes to birthdays! Today, we celebrated observer MikeDorfman's birthday in style with party hats, festive leis, and otherbirthday decorations. It also just so

Life on the Summit 2014-07-31 15:35:46.000 - Jan and Christine,  Summit Museum Attendants Spending time with this amazing summit crew is a personal and professional privilege, but what gives me the greatest joy is dinner time, not just because of the awesome food that is prepared by our volunteers, but to sit down and enjoy family style dining, too. That is the best time to really get to know these guys and learn of their many hidden talents. We meet around the large table at seven o'clock every night and exchange stories. Some are stories of summit life, but others

Thoughts from a Volunteer 2014-07-30 18:26:15.000 - Aylmer H. Given III,  Summit Volunteer Lakes of the Clouds AMC Hut It is quite an honor to spend a week volunteering with the Mount Washington Observatory staff. Just listening to the conversations in the tower and at the dinner table gives you just a peek into how much combined knowledge there is among the interns and weather observers.As we arrived on our first day, the volunteers were invited to listen in on part of the transition meeting. When the interns were told that there was a low pressure system forming and that

Science in the Mountains: Forecasting Wind Gusts on the Summit 2014-07-29 18:29:38.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer NULL Our Science In the Mountains lecture series continues tomorrow at the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, with this week's topic forecasting wind gusts on the summit. Ever wonder what creates a wind gust? Or why some days winds may be a steady breeze and others an erratic gale that tosses you around? I will be discussing a research project I worked on this past summer, where I studied wind data on the summit in order to gain a better understanding of