Meteorological Winter 2013-12-01 17:31:18.000 - Samuel Hewitt,  Summit Intern A Black Hawk Circles the Summit Saturday Happy meteorological winter! As meteorologists, we define winter to be the three coldest months of the year. For most places across the Unites States, including the summit of Mt. Washington, those months are December, January, and February. This is contrary to an astronomical winter, which begins at the winter solstice (December 21st) and ends at the vernal equinox (around March 20th). Even though it may be the "first" day of winter, it has felt like it for much longer here on the Rockpile. This

A unique holiday season 2013-11-30 18:25:01.000 - Cyrena Briede,  Director of Summit Operations NULL We're always incredibly grateful for the generosity and support of our members and fans through this special time of the year, with this year in particular being pretty unique.Not only is this the week of Thanksgiving, but for our Jewish members and fans, Thanksgiving overlaps with the start of Hanukkah for the first time since 1888. Many religious holidays follow a lunar calendar, which makes their celebration day change slightly from year to year when compared to a Gregorian calendar, the January through December type most

Wednesday's Nor'easter on The Summit 2013-11-29 13:44:54.000 - Samuel Hewitt,  Summit Intern 7:00-9:00 PM 11-27-13 Thermograph In anticipation of Wednesday's Nor'easter, my shift-mates and I arrived at the summit early on Tuesday evening so that we would not have to battle the storm Wednesday morning. Snow had already begun to fall by the time we reached the summit cone and temperatures were hovering in the middle 20's. The snow continued to fall during the overnight hours and temperatures began to rise ahead of the system's warm front. During the early morning hours of Wednesday, the snow transitioned to a period

Happy Thanksgiving from the roof of the Northeast! 2013-11-28 11:03:19.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL While the observations are as routine as ever (albeit in snow, hurricane force winds and wind chills of -40 degrees) today, our actual routine will incorporate most of the things we would love to be doing if at home with friends and family. To start the day, deicing, radio shows, forecasting, shoveling and data check will proceed as normal, only to be hopefully followed up by football, roasting the turkey, finishing pies, and whipping up side dishes.I imagine that we will also have

First early shift change of the season 2013-11-27 21:46:55.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer Our snowy truck arrives on the summit Due to today's large storm system moving up the coast, we decided to move up our normal shift change to Tuesday. This is an infrequent occurrence, but it does happen from time to time during the winter season when road conditions may make travel up and down the Auto Road unsafe. Last night we arrived at the base of the Auto Road around 5:30 PM, with the storm just beginning to knock on our door in NH as snow

First early shift change of the season 2013-11-27 17:56:48.000 - Tom Padham,  Weather Observer Our snowy truck arrives on the summit Due to today's large storm system moving up the coast, we decided to move up our normal shift change to Tuesday. This is an infrequent occurrence, but it does happen from time to time during the winter season when road conditions may make travel up and down the Auto Road unsafe. Last night we arrived at the base of the Auto Road around 5:30 PM, with the storm just beginning to knock on our door in NH as snow

Dear Santa... 2013-11-26 14:12:46.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist NULL Dear Santa-How are you? It is wild to think that another year is gone and we quickly find ourselves barreling towards Christmas 2013 with me writing you once again. This will be my seventh letter to you; that's nearly one letter for each year I have been working up here. So, going over our five point checklist, I think we have accomplished nearly all of your requirements: 1. Hand Written note by November 1 - DONE2. Email note by Thanksgiving - DONE3. A preliminary New Hampshire forecast for Christmas night

Snowy Peaks in the Distance 2013-11-25 18:01:48.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer Killington on the horizon behind Bretton Woods Another beautiful day on the summit! As we push our way closer and closer to the official start of winter (December 21st), the mountain is looking more and more snowy! After reading the official summit snowfall total so far for the month of 32.1 inches, I was a bit surprised. However, after reviewing our average monthly snowfall of 37.8 inches for the month of November on the summit, it seems as if we're approximately on track with snowfall so far! It's

The Century Club 2013-11-24 18:41:14.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer Pushing Against the Wind Back Up the Deck Today was a bit more than just a normal day. All eyes were transfixed on the dials in the weather room, waiting for the next big gust. Temperatures were well below zero (hovering between -5 and -15 the whole day) with winds sustained above 100 miles per hour for much of the day. Some of you may have heard about the Century Club, an informal fraternity of elite observers who can walk around the deck in sustained hundred-mile-an-hour wind. There are only

Arctic Freeze!!! 2013-11-23 17:58:47.000 - Pratik Patel,  Summit Intern cold air seeping over the Great Lakes As you may know, winter has already started on top of Mt. Washington a few weeks ago. Over the next 36 hours, the polar jet stream will dip over the Midwest and the high and low pressure systems over central and northeastern North America will help funnel in cool Arctic air over the northeast. Here on the summit, we will see temperatures plummet to mid teens below zero! As the surface high builds up over the Midwest and pushes eastward, a relatively strong pressure