Extreme Mount Washington Project 2013-05-25 17:04:28.000 - Scot Henley,  Executive Director NULL It is a big time for the Observatory and for everyone that loves Mount Washington. At a press event Thursday morning, we unveiled our plans for 'Extreme Mount Washington,' a brand new, interactive winter experience at the summit of Mount Washington, coming in spring of 2014. Welcoming more than 100,000 visitors each year, New Hampshire's most visited museum is located, amazingly, atop New England's tallest peak. Originally created in 1973, Mount Washington Observatory's summit museum has offered its visitors a look at the mountain's natural and human history,

First Days 2013-05-24 22:07:37.000 - Alex Carne,  Summit Intern NULL A year and a half ago, I was given a membership to the Mount Washing Observatory as a Christmas gift from my family. I began to research Mount Washington and developed a great interest in its extreme weather but, I never had a chance to venture to the mountain as I lived almost a thousand miles away at the time. A year after receiving my Observatory membership, I was told by one of my college professors that the Mount Washington Observatory offers internship positions. Upon hearing this I immediately applied

Extreme Mount Washington 2013-05-24 04:25:06.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL A brand new, interactive winter experience will soon greet summer visitors to Mount Washington, as Mount Washington Observatory prepares to perform a complete redesign and renovation of its museum at the summit. Plans for the museum, entitled 'Extreme Mount Washington', were unveiled to members of the media at a special reception this morning in North Conway.Welcoming more than 100,000 visitors each year, New Hampshire's most visited museum is located, amazingly, atop New England's tallest peak. Originally created in 1973, Mount Washington Observatory's summit museum has offered its visitors

First Thoughts on Summit Internship 2013-05-21 19:54:16.000 - Luke Davis,  Summit Intern NULL It's just my third day on the summit as an observatory intern, and it's already everything I imagined it would be. There is plenty of work, and a lot to learn, but I'm excited about the days ahead. With so many diverse responsibilities, these three days have been hectic. All the technical information that I've been shown, between 'METAR' meteorological coding, forecast analysis, and observation procedures, is spinning in my head. It's cool to see the things taught in the classroom in real-world situations, and to get

First Thoughts on Summit Internship 2013-05-21 19:53:23.000 - Luke Davis,  Summit Intern NULL It's just my third day on the summit as an observatory intern, and it's already everything I imagined it would be. There is plenty of work, and a lot to learn, but I'm excited about the days ahead. With so many diverse responsibilities, these three days have been hectic. All the technical information that I've been shown, between 'METAR' meteorological coding, forecast analysis, and observation procedures, is spinning in my head. It's cool to see the things taught in the classroom in real-world situations, and to get

Adaptation 2013-05-20 05:10:31.000 - Tom Padham,  Summit Intern NULL Things have been very busy at the observatory this week, with this weekend feeling like the first real summer weekend on the summit. The museum saw many visitors this weekend, which allowed for my first hours helping out to maintain the museum. Our new intern Luke also came up yesterday, which was nice because it meant we would have another helping hand. In addition to this being the first summer week it seems even busier because of my somewhat hectic schedule. Our normal night observer Mike Dorfman is on vacation, and

An Icy Trip 2013-05-18 17:26:38.000 - Cyrena Briede,  Director of Summit Operations Winter On Top I have returned to the summit for a couple of days and as usual, no two trips are the same. Early Friday morning was a nice day in the valley but on the summit it was snowing and in the fog. Before I drove up the Auto Road, I stopped and spoke with Sue at the base about the road conditions. She told me the bottom half was fine but the top half may be icy and chains were advised. The road was closed to

Just Another Spring Day 2013-05-17 17:18:26.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Today's Rime Ice Winter is back...again!Or is it? Actually, it's just another spring day on Mt. Washington.Today, we've received freezing drizzle, freezing rain, ice pellets (sleet), and snow, accumulating to six-tenths of an inch.How odd is that? Well, considering Mt. Washington averages 12.5 inches of snow for the month of May, it's not so strange.Temperatures have hovered in the 25-30 degrees F range throughout the entire day, which, when coupled with thick fog, has resulted in significant rime ice and glaze ice accumulation on top of the summit. Overnight

Wind Speed on Mount Washington 2013-05-16 16:17:01.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer Our Pitot Static Anemometer You may have heard about our extreme weather here on the summit, including our previous world record wind speed of 231 miles per hour recorded in April of 1934. Many other observatories in less extreme environments use propeller anemometers or other spinning anemometers to determine wind speed, but this does not work on Mt Washington, thanks to a weather phenomenon called rime ice. Rime ice builds on every exposed surface on the summit when we are in the clouds and below freezing, forming feathers

Volunteer Week 2013-05-14 23:59:18.000 - Debbie Bohr and Patti Chappell,  Summit Volunteers May Rime Ice Why do we come to Mt. Washington? We come because we love the views, the sunrises and sunsets, the diversity of the weather, and the winds. It's called the Rockpile, but it is much more than a pile of rocks. The day before we arrived, a new daily record high of 57 degrees was set. Today the temperatures were in the upper teens and the wind chills hovered around zero or below. This is a place of extremes, fog and sunshine, warmth and cold, mountains