Remote Locations Around the World 2014-03-03 19:28:27.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer The Sphinx Observatory We love to pride ourselves in our isolation and extreme weather, but there are a handful of other locations around the world that are similar to the Observatory in terms of extreme weather and remoteness. Here are just a few of them:Summit Camp: This isolated camp on the Greenland Ice Sheet is constantly moving around with the glacier it sits on. In addition to observing the weather, they perform year-round research projects. Sphinx Observatory: This location serves as an astronomical observatory, meteorological observatory and research

Forecasting Kitty? 2014-03-02 18:39:00.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist He's not sleeping, he's observing the weather. Last shift, I read an article on NPR entitled, "What We Might Learn From Snoring Weather Cats." The article was based on information contained in an 1883 book entitled Signal Service Notes, Issue 9. (The US Army Signal Corps was a predecessor to todays National Weather Service; to learn more about how the US went from the US Weather Bureau to the National Weather Service, you can click here). The short article peaked my interest, so I downloaded the full copy of the book

Approaching The End 2014-03-01 19:42:42.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL As my shifts here on the Summit begin to dwindle, I find myself thinking about all the aspects of summit life that I will miss. The sunrises and sunsets, high winds, low visibility, crystal clear skies, and my coworkers. While my transition off the summit is bittersweet, I am looking forward to my new journey with Backpacker Magazine on their Women's Get Out More Tour. I could never take this experience for granted and will always be able to call the Summit one of my homes.   Rebecca

Avalanches In New England 2014-02-28 19:36:26.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer NULL Around two weeks ago, I participated in an AIARE level II course in Baxter State Park. For those of you who don't know where Baxter State Park is, this is an incredible piece of land in northern Maine. At just over 320 square miles in area, it contains something for every type of outdoor enthusiast, including avalanche terrain on Mount Katahdin. After taking this course, I understood, amongst other things, how incredibly intertwined weather and avalanche forecasting are. As it falls, the atmosphere directly affects snow's shape, size

Writing Remotely About A Remote Location 2014-02-27 18:24:25.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer NULL It is so easy to sit downstairs in our living room and completely forget we're living on top of a mountain. The occasional rumble of the wind or shaking of our stove's ventilation shaft is a gentle reminder that we are extremely isolated in an extreme environment. In case of an emergency, a snow cat rescue can be as much as 6 hours away, so we must rely on our own legs to get down the mountain.Although the mountain is physically isolated from the rest of

Winter's Not Going Anywhere 2014-02-26 20:58:10.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL March may be on the horizon, but winter is here to stay, at least for a while.Another blast of arctic air is now making its way into New England, which will keep temperatures in the valleys suppressed in the teens and twenties during the day for the foreseeable future, with overnight lows dropping below zero at times. In addition, a series of disturbances over the next week will bring several rounds of light snow, keeping that winter motif alive and well for the commencement of March.Up on

The Polar Vortex 2014-02-25 18:39:23.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist As Sam alluded to, the deep freeze has returned to the higher summits, and it looks to stay through the next several days across nearly all of New England. Temperatures on the summit fell to 15 below this morning, and the forecast calls for the summit to remain below zero until at least Saturday! While this cold spell will not be as strong as the one we saw during the month of January, when the summit dropped to 26 below, we still could see temperatures approach 20 below on Thursday,

32 Degrees? 2014-02-23 17:14:17.000 - Samuel Hewitt,  Summit Intern Our 7:00 PM observation Friday revealed that the summit temperature rose above the freezing mark for the first time since January 13th. Although the average temperature for this time of year is in the mid-single digits, it is still hard to believe that we have remained below freezing for the last 38 days! The last time the temperature remained under 32 degrees for more than 38 consecutive days was from January 28th - March 6th, 2012. The "mild" conditions were short lived however, as temperatures remained above freezing for roughly one

Sunrise Surpise 2014-02-22 16:29:48.000 - Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer Phantom Peak As many of you know, sunrise on the summit of Mount Washington is a remarkable sight. Many of you also know that as a weather observer part of my job is to go outside to the Observation deck at the top of the hour and observe the weather. During this time of the year, being the morning weather observer you get the unique perk of watching the sun rise while taking the 6:45AM Observation. Since I was the morning observer this morning and the summit was in the clear,

Marty-in-a-Box 2014-02-21 18:53:36.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist In A Box Despite the busy goings-on here at the summit, there is one staff member that remains constant, and his name is Marty.From the perspective of a furry feline that stands no more than a couple feet off the ground, one would suspect the hustle and bustle can seem even more overwhelming. However, ever since Christmas time, Marty has found a sufficient space in which to retreat when winter trip season is in full swing. It's the winter of Marty-in-a-box!Marty's box is perched on a ledge at the crux of