Brief Moments of Clarity 2013-07-07 18:16:46.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Summit Intern View of the sunset from Lakes of the Clouds Hut Being socked in the fog for an entire shift gets old quickly. Luckily, conditions began to clear up yesterday and that made for the perfect opportunity to take an evening hike down to Lakes of the Clouds. Once we were all packed up, Alex, Rebecca, our two volunteers (Jenny and Phyllis), and I started down the Crawford Path. Visibility was the best we've seen all week and it was obvious everyone was enjoying the clarity! Once we arrived at

Newton's Revenge 2013-07-06 16:51:57.000 - Alex Carne,  Summit Intern Biker at the Finish Line Newton's Revenge is an annual bicycle race that is held on the Mount Washington Auto Road. This year's race took place today, as bikers began their ascent of the 6,288ft mountain at 8:20 this morning. Newton's Revenge has been considered one of the toughest hill climbs in the world, with steep grades and extreme weather challenging even the best of athletes. Bikers in today's race had to ascend 4,727ft up the 7.6 mile long auto road. The road has an average grade of 12%, with the

Two Weeks Away from Seek the Peak! 2013-07-05 17:56:40.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL July 19th will kick off our 13th annual Seek The Peak event, which is a fundraising event for our non-profit Mount Washington Observatory. With spaces still available, it is not too late to join in on the fun and participate in the Nation's premier hiking event. Registration is free, however, a $200 minimum fundraising amount is required to participate. Once this is achieved, you can be well on your way to receiving a Seek the Peak EMS Techwick Tee, EMS Erratic pack filled with

Happy 4th of July 2013-07-04 21:01:17.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Director of Education NULL Happy 4th of July! To honor and celebrate our country's past and heritage, the summit crew has decorated the weather room in red, white, and blue. While we may not be able to see fireworks in the valley this year, mother nature is trying to give us a show. Clouds have kept the summit in the clouds all day and with an approaching line of thunderstorms will likely continue this unsettled trend overnight. On the other hand, since we're a bunch of weather enthusiasts, a show from

Robots on Mount Washington 2013-07-03 18:06:56.000 - Cyrena Briede,  Director of Summit Operations LS3 and I on the Summit The Mount Washington Observatory has been utilized in the past for product testing, and why not? For some conditions such as high elevation, high winds, cold temperatures, and icing conditions, it's something we are a natural fit for. Companies have brought up everything from tents to dialysis machines to test with us. This past Thursday, though, was a first for us: robots. We were joined by robotics company Boston Dynamics to test their LS3 robot at a high elevation. This robot

Our Week on the Summit 2013-07-02 14:00:47.000 - Mike and Dan,  Summit Volunteers A Fun Crew. It's been a fun a rewarding week here on the summit. It's something that we have always wanted to do. The crew has been great and it was a real pleasure working with them. They are very appreciative of everything we do, especially dinners, cookies and brownies!The first couple of days were a learning process of getting used to the routine and creating dinner menus for the week. There is a well stocked pantry and many items to choose from for dinners. It became

Happy July! 2013-07-01 17:47:54.000 - Matthew Cann,  Summit Intern View looking west from the parapet As we transition into the new month of July, we remain stuck in this seemingly unbreakable weather pattern. The offshore flow continues to bring moisture into the Northeast, and, when paired with the hot summer air, provides the perfect conditions for heavy rain and thunderstorms to develop. As a result the region has recently been dominated by flash flood and severe thunderstorm warnings. With the month of July ahead of us it is increasingly important to keep an eye out for severe weather. In the

Making Progress 2013-06-30 16:10:07.000 - Tom Padham,  Summit Intern Diapensia overlooking the Great Gulf Now that the month of June is just about done, I've had about a month and a half to work on my project, and things are starting to come together pretty nicely. For my intern project this summer I've been tasked with looking at the nature of the gustiness of winds on the summit. The wind on the summit can be sustained at 100mph for example, but on one day it may frequently gust only to 110 and another it could be gusting to 130 or

Stormy Weather 2013-06-29 18:53:32.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer A Pot of Gold at Nelson Crag? What a better time for lightning week than this week? Sandwiched between a high pressure system offshore, spinning clockwise, and a low pressure system to our northwest, spinning counterclockwise, the northeast is getting a direct shot of maritime air. A southwesterly flow is allowing extremely humid air to flow through the northeast. June is also the time of year when the sun is highest in the sky and strongest. As sunlight warms up the surface of the earth during the day, the warm air

Lightning Week 2013 Continues! 2013-06-28 18:17:28.000 - Luke Davis,  Summit Intern Developing Storms East of the Carter-Moriah Range Yesterday's clouds, seen in the attached photo, may not have produced any thunderstorms in our vicinity, but it demonstrates just how chaotic the weather can be in the summer time. With the chance for severe storms throughout the next several days, and as we're approaching the first full weekend after most schools have finished classes, lightning safety is as important as ever. The science behind the formation of lightning is not yet fully understood, but meteorologists and researchers today have a general