Summit Job Opening 2014-01-29 10:46:18.000 - Cyrena Briede,  Director of Summit Operations NULL Have you ever dreamt about working on the summit of Mount Washington? Do you love extreme weather and enjoy teaching people about the weather even more? If so, or you know someone that fits this description, boy do we have a deal for you! The Mount Washington Observatory is currently looking to hire an Education Specialist Weather Observer. This full-time year round salaried position is on the summit of Mount Washington with an 8-day shift. While on the summit, the Education Specialist Weather Observer will be providing

The Wind Howls as We Stir the Pot 2014-01-28 12:06:00.000 - Dianne Fallon & Hilary Clark,  Summit Volunteers NULL As I write at the kitchen table, a pulled pork lunch for 17 simmers in the crockpot and the wind shrieks above the stove vents. That wind has been howling for the past four days, hitting a peak gust of 121 mph on Sunday, when the temperature dropped to -25 and the wind chill was a crazy -76. And we summit volunteers are loving it! The possibility of extreme weather is one of the main reasons why I signed on for

Deja Vu 2014-01-26 19:31:31.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist NULL We have seen a wild swing in temperatures over the past few days, and one more arctic front approaching New England tonight will allow for one more huge swing in temperatures. Temperatures early this morning plummeted from near 0 to 23 below only 6 hours later, with winds ramping up to just over 100mph sustained. unfortunately I was asleep during the highest winds, and did not get to make a century club attempt. This second front will be almost identical to the one that crossed our area less than 24

Just Like Old Times 2014-01-25 21:41:38.000 - Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer NULL Some of you might have noticed that our website was not updating the current weather conditions. The black out of data on our current summit conditions webpage is due to ongoing maintenance of the IT infrastructure here on the summit. We are planning to have everything back up and running like normal later tonight if not during the day tomorrow. We will keep you posted if there any unexpected delays while the IT work is finished up.The IT work not only blacks out the data from streaming onto

Storm Chasing 2014-01-24 17:36:10.000 - Samuel Hewitt,  Summit Intern May 28th, 2013 Bennington, KS Tornado The opportunity to live and work at the summit for a week at time has allowed me to experience weather conditions that I will likely never see at sea level. Since September, I have witnessed 130 mph winds, bitterly cold temperatures, and wind chills as low as -70 degrees Fahrenheit. Last summer, my passion for extreme weather brought me to the heart of Tornado Alley, where I chased thunderstorms for two weeks as part of a storm chasing and observation program offered by the State

A Chill In The Air 2014-01-23 21:35:14.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL The bitter cold of winter has its grip on us, and doesn't look to let go anytime soon! We've hit a low temperature of -24F three times this month already, and there looks to be colder times to come on the summit.Our shift isn't expecting to get above zero degrees nearly at all through next Wednesday (with the only possible exception to this coming on Saturday, where we have a chance of hitting a high temperature of +3F). Otherwise, we'll be well into the negative numbers,

AMS Presentation Coming Soon 2014-01-22 18:08:02.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL In ten days, I'll be taking a trip down to Atlanta, GA. The reason? To give an oral presentation, which takes place the evening of February 3rd, at the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) 94th Annual Meeting.I was selected by AMS to present on 'The Complexity of Weather Forecasting in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, NH.' During this presentation, I'll be discussing the unusually extreme weather that our mountain range faces, and the long list of difficulties in forecasting atop Mount Washington.The extreme Alpine environment that

Nine Days On The Summit 2014-01-21 23:13:46.000 - Jules Rainka,  Summit Volunteer Stage office at sunrise. The favorite things for volunteers on Mt Washington, at least for these two volunteers, are simple and varied; hiking, sunrises/sunsets, rooting for extreme weather, meeting all the guests and documenting the experience with photos. No, believe it or not, it is not cooking. Cooking for 17 can be challenging but luckily, I enjoy cooking. However, it does provide its own joys because of the wonderful people you meet. You do know that hikers and the folks that enjoy this kind of experience are just

Volunteer Comment 2014-01-20 19:21:13.000 - Neil Lovett,  Summit Volunteer Sunrise color on the Northern Presidential's This is the third time I have volunteered a week at the Mt Washington Observatory. I've seen the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets imaginable, I've stood in the winds gusting in excess of 100 mph, I've hiked to what I consider some of the most beautiful places in the world, and I've listened to the people who live here tell incredible tales. I've cooked for up to 17 people, improvising what to prepare based on the ingredients available to me at the time (here, there

Is It Snowing? 2014-01-19 17:34:47.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Snowflake caught on our snow board. When I am off the summit and in the valley, I determine it is snowing like almost everyone else - I look out the window and see it falling from the sky or look at recently shoveled areas to see if anything has accumulated. On the summit of Mount Washington, this method rarely works. Why? Well, we are usually in the fog and there is some amount of blowing snow/ice/rime that is being whipped up with the newly fallen snow. So, my valley method