Lightning Safety Awareness Week 2014-06-22 19:36:07.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist The 'Lightning Position' demo. This week (June 22-28) is known in the weather community as Lightning Safety Awareness Week. Friday, I started this discussion with the two big things to do prior to a thunderstorm - know before you go and when thunder roars, go indoors. These are best-case scenarios however, if you are days out in the backcountry, these two options may not be readily available. So what are some options you can do to reduce your risk of injury or death?Time your activity to avoid potential storms.

A Brief Return To The Obs 2014-06-21 18:18:07.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Former Observer NULL It has been a little over two months since I left the summit of Mount Washington for my new job with Backpacker Magazine. A constant thought I have had was how would I feel once I returned? Would it feel like visiting a childhood home that is no longer yours, or would it feel like coming home from college to see your family? Stepping away from a place you have called home gives you a new prospective on the work you did there. I can honestly

Lightning Safety Awareness Week Intro 2014-06-20 19:01:09.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist NULL Lightning Safety Awareness Week is coming up (June 22-28, 2014) so I figured I would get a jump on things and start talking about lightning and lightning safety in the White Mountains. In the United States, it has been estimated that 25 million lightning flashes occur every year with every one of those flashes potentially becoming deadly. In fact, after flood related deaths, lightning is second when it comes to weather related fatalities each year in the US with several more victims succumbing to severe injuries. In

Ride to the Clouds and NECN 2014-06-19 17:43:02.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer Motorcyclists make their way up the Auto Road It's been a busy day here on the summit! The second Ride to the Clouds occurred today, which is an event hosted by the Mount Washington Auto Road. To celebrate the Laconia Motorcycle Week, the road closes to everyone but official stage coaches and motorcycles. I don't have an exact number on the amount of bikes that made it to the summit, but there was a steady stream coming up the road for the entire day. Tomorrow should be

A Gusty Return 2014-06-18 20:00:54.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL Weather conditions on the summit were far different from the muggy morning we left behind in the valley today. Throughout shift change, winds were sustained above 50mph and at times, gusted to well over 70mph. After several past shifts with eerily calm conditions (for Mount Washington standards of course!), I for one welcomed this change of pace. With an area of low pressure slowly departing the region, gusty winds and lingering rain showers will persist overnight tonight before gradually clearing as an area of high pressure moves in

Exciting Times 2014-06-17 22:38:10.000 - Jan Berriochoa,  Summit Museum Attendant It is an exciting time on the summit. The Museum is now open and droves of visitors have come to Extreme Mount Washington. Due to the weather, the Auto Road was only open halfway causing the ribbon cutting to be held down below at the Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center. After spending four days in the fog with rain and high winds, we ended our Friday's shift with a spectacular sunset and rose Saturday morning to a glorious sunrise. Since this is my first summer on the summit, this week

Windy Day 2014-06-15 15:56:44.000 - Brett Rossio,  Summit Intern Slightly Breezy Day (By Rockpile Standards) Summit-seekers got a real treat today with winds gusting to 70 mph in some cases. Higher gusts like this are far less frequent during the late spring/summer months. An unseasonably cooler airmass funneled into the region from Quebec (imagine a mountain of dense air rushing into a location that previously had low air pressure...physically-speaking the dense object will want to rush to the location of low density.). This coupled with conducive vertical conditions allowed stronger winds to mix to the summit level. Ethan and I

The Day's Watch 2014-06-14 12:34:40.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Marty on Daytime Duty As Kyle mentioned in his comments yesterday, we are a man down this week, so he has flipped to the 5PM-5AM night shift. This has left me as the sole observer on the day shift. Its been quite a hectic shift, so it's been a bit of a challenge to keep up with all of the goings-on at the summit this week!Luckily, I have two well-trained interns that have lent a tremendous hand, in addition to having a sort of 'guest' observer from the other

Up All Night 2014-06-13 20:19:37.000 - Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer NULL Like the weather, work here at the Mount Washington Observatory is 24/7 365 days a year. To cover every hour of the day the staff on the summit is broken into different shifts to cover the 24 hours of weather observations in addition to the other daily tasks we are responsible for. When one of us get to go on a much deserved vacation that means the rest of the staff is left to fill void of being an observer down. While we do not mind helping fill the

Busy Times 2014-06-13 07:35:56.000 - Cyrena Briede,  Director of Summit Operations NULL To say things are busy right now at the Observatory is an understatement! We just completed installing a complete solar array on the roof of the Weather Discovery Center, the new Extreme Mount Washington Museum has reached the day of it's grand opening, and we will be premiering a brand new website this summer. But that's not all!We are so fortunate to have many media requests from Quebec to Boston that want to come to the summit and tell their viewers about Extreme Mount Washington. I spent all