The 411 About Meteorology 2014-01-14 19:08:15.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist NULL Ever wonder what it takes to be a meteorologist? Meteorology, or the study of the atmosphere, is a complex science that has existed in the United States since the 18th century. Some of our founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin actually kept their own personal records of the weather in personal journals. Meteorologists can go to work in many different areas after college, with government agencies, education, radio and television stations, airports, private consulting firms, and research services just to name a few of the more

Final Week 2014-01-13 16:41:27.000 - Jake Fedors,  Research Intern NULL As my final week on the summit comes to a close I can't help but think how great the whole experience was. I sit here reflecting on the experiences and knowledge that the summit observatory has provided me and I realize they are priceless. I will be able to carry them with me wherever I go and build off of them. A big part of what made my time up here so valuable was the observers I was able to work with. They all have a great sense of humor

'January Thaw' 2014-01-12 11:02:41.000 - Samuel Hewitt,  Summit Intern Water Continues To Drain From Yesterday's Rain Some meteorologists refer to weather phenomenon that occur on or near a certain date as a 'singularity'. The most common temperature singularity is known to most as the 'January Thaw', a period of anomalous warming in the northeastern United States which normally occurs from mid-to-late January. What sets this singularity apart from most is that it occurs during the second coldest month of year for this region. An article by Godfrey et al. 2002 investigated the thaw, performing a statistical analysis in order to

March at the Top 2014-01-10 15:20:52.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist A March Scene It's hard to believe that after last week's arctic temperatures, we are likely to break a record high on the summit tomorrow. Although it's the dead of winter, temperatures in excess of 40 degrees are not unheard of (although, not common, by any means). Generally speaking, wintertime begins to take hold on the summit in late October, and does not loosen its grip until late April.Are you looking to experience (in person) this awe-inspiring environment that is Mount Washington's winter? Well, as a matter of

Extreme Mount Washington Campaign: Thank You! 2014-01-09 15:41:40.000 - Scot Henley,  Executive Director Extreme Mount Washington I'm writing to share some wonderful news: Thanks to the support of nearly 1,500 individual donors, we met our goals for both our 2013 year-end campaign AND our capital campaign to build Extreme Mount Washington!As we close our books on December, the year-end campaign topped out at $162,428-our most successful year-end campaign ever, providing crucial funds for our weather station on Mount Washington, our instrument sites throughout the Whites, and our Weather Discovery Center in North Conway.After several years of grant writing and fundraising,

Another Interesting Shift Change 2014-01-08 18:31:44.000 - Michael Kyle,  Weather Observer Circles Shows Where Data Is Missing As normal nothing on the summit of Mount Washington goes exactly as planned. As best as we try to keep schedules on the summit the weather always has it final say on what we can and cannot do. The past 24 hours is a prime example of this. Yesterday's high winds, blowing snow , extremely cold temperatures and wind chill values all combined together making conditions unsafe for travel on Mount Washington, also the extreme weather caused some issues with our summit instrumentation.

Volunteer's Comments 2014-01-07 14:28:01.000 - Betty Olivolo & Chuck Bailey,  Summit Volunteers Sunset we witnessed. Just finishing up a great week on this amazing rock pile! The weather didn't disappoint us - something different every day - snow, rain, freezing rain, high winds (almost to 100 mph), no visibility, and then unlimited visibility. During those clear days, we had the good fortune to see a beautiful sunrise (just one, since I love to sleep in the morning), and comparable sunsets! Totally breathtaking! We had a fun EduTrip here over the weekend learning about mountaineering, and we got to join in

Technology Upgrades at the Obs 2014-01-06 22:17:49.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist Working in our server room. For all of you who may have wondered why you haven't seen an Observer Comment from me in quite some time, it's because I've been working on a number of Technology Upgrades both on the Summit and in our Valley Administrative Offices. I wish I could report that we're done; however, we still have a few more months of work to go.Thanks to the Philanthropic support that Microsoft provides to non-profits like the Obs through Techsoup, we've been able to upgrade both

Observing is Not Only a Job-it's a Lifestyle 2014-01-05 18:53:42.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer Sunrise Yesterday Morning Every day is part of a larger rhythm here on the summit. Wake up at 0500, do morning radio shows, perform data analysis, submit observations, and so on - much of my day is very structured. Having a routine every day is comforting and, most importantly, allows me to work at a sustainable pace. It is what allows me to work 10-12 hour days for 8 days straight. But doing the same thing every day doesn't make every day the same. The

A Warm Spot But Not THE Warm Spot 2014-01-04 20:03:41.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Sunset and a sliver of the moon this afternoon. When I looked at the various weather maps, soundings, models and current conditions on Friday afternoon, everything was pointing towards a strong inversion setting up over the state of NH for the overnight hours. For those wondering what an inversion is, let me briefly explain. Normally, as you move up in the atmosphere, the temperature will typically decrease with height. With an inversion, the temperature may start off decreasing with height but at some point, it