First Shift Week 2014-05-31 14:42:44.000 - Ethan Wright,  Summit Intern NULL I started my first shift as a summit intern on Wednesday and have spent the last few days learning the ropes of the Observatory. Needless to say, life here on the summit has been an adjustment from the usual college lifestyle that I have lived over the past few months. The people here on the summit have been very receptive and I know that I will enjoy working with them in the coming months. The food has been great! One of the things that makes the Observatory such a

Extreme Mount Washington Programs 2014-05-30 12:44:10.000 - Will Broussard,  Outreach Coordinator Entrance Into Extreme Mount Washington After many days without seeing the sun in both our valley and summit locations, I am happy to report a visibility of 90 miles from the summit of Mount Washington this morning. With this window of ideal weather, a handful of valley staff took the opportunity to ascend the Mount Washington Auto Road to assist in the staging of materials ahead of our June 13th grand opening of Extreme Mount Washington . With a soft opening having already taken place on Memorial Day weekend,

Staff, Staff Everywhere! 2014-05-29 11:03:36.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Yesterday's Cool Clouds The sun is shining high in the sky today, shining a proverbial light on all of the changes up here!For most of the fall and winter months, staff on the summit was fairly minimal: 3 observers, 1 intern, and 1 or 2 volunteers. Sure there were a multitude of guests throughout this time period, but when it came to staff, there were only the 5 or 6 of us (even down to 4 during some weeks!). However, this has changed drastically with the evolution of the

Memorial Day 2014 - Exhilarating! 2014-05-28 08:34:04.000 - Preston and Brenda Conklin,  Summit Volunteers NULL Standing on top of the weather instrument tower (known as the parapet) above the summit of Mount Washington in fog with winds consistently above 60 mph couldn't have been more fun! In our full winter gear, including the required ski goggles, we encountered conditions of almost no visibility, and we had to hang on or lean into the wind to stay upright. After several days of fog and moderate wind in the 20-30 mph range, this was the experience we had been waiting for. We

My First Week on the Summit 2014-05-27 19:04:30.000 - Andrew Tucker,  Summit Museum Attendant A windy night atop the parapet Living among the clouds has been phenomenal since day one. I met an incredible group of individuals that have been very welcoming. Although we all work in different departments on the summit, we gather at the dinner table and unwind with conversation of the day and even extended periods of laughter. There is definitely a great group of people up here. On the sixth night of my first week, I had the opportunity to not only hear the roar of

Delivering Thunderstorms 2014-05-26 19:09:48.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist A decaying thunderstorm from Sunday. When I was a kid, I used to choose my breakfast cereals purely by the toy surprise associated with them. While most offered instant gratification with the toy stuffed inside, every once in a while there would be a larger prize that I had to collect multiple bar codes or box tops for and mail off a form to receive at a later time. Normally these prizes took 4 to 6 weeks to receive but as a kid, time held little to no significant meaning and

My First Week 2014-05-25 15:11:01.000 - Caleb Meute,  Summit Intern View On Hike to Mount Clay The week is beginning to wind down as we are coming to the end of our shift and to be completely honest with you all, I am not entirely thrilled because I have not yet experienced the Mount Washington extremes! Thankfully, I have an entire summer ahead of me to spend here. It is just incredible on this summit and something quite extraordinary for me as I am so passionate about severe weather. I haven't experienced the strong winds that Mount Washington is known

My First Comment 2014-05-24 17:56:56.000 - Arielle Ahrens,  Summit Intern NULL Half-way through my first week up here at Mount Washington Observatory and I am having a total blast! As one of the new interns, I have been learning a lot about Observatory operations. I have shadowed several hourly observations as well as several mock and real Observatory tours (which we provide to members of the Observatory). I am trying to learn as much as I can!Getting to know everyone on my shift has been great as well. The lifestyle up here is very unique and so far, it has

New Faces In New Spaces! 2014-05-23 17:26:29.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist New summer interns Caleb and Arielle We have some new faces on our Summit crew! In addition to hiring two museum attendants, Andrew and AJ, we've also collected our interns for the summer, Arielle and Caleb. Everyone has been working very hard these past few weeks and the momentum has only continued!We continue to focus on getting things ready for the opening of our new Extreme Mount Washington Museum, which I must say is looking absolutely phenomenal. Additionally, we've spent time making preparations for our summer tour

Hackademy and Exciting Upcoming Events 2014-05-22 22:00:54.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer Our Hackademy app team. The Mount Washington Observatory had been selected for an annual marathon-app-coding event called 'Hackademy.' In this event, computer science majors split into several groups of 3-4 students, attending a few crash-courses in app programming, then diving into making the app. The event was sponsored and hosted by Dyn, an internet traffic management and message management powerhouse located in Manchester, NH. The students had approximately 48 hours between when they arrived at Dyn and when they made their final presentation to develop the app.It was