Volunteering First Timers 2013-06-11 22:32:47.000 - John and Gina Rescigno,  Summit Volunteers Hiking with Washington in the background. Volunteering at the Observatory is a once in a live time experience that you must experience more than once. Starting out at the base parking lot you are met by the staff that you will be residing with over the week. The ride up Mt Washington was crystal clear with views well into the distance. The week was rewarding, interactive and fulfilling. The dedicated staff taught us about the weather, the importance of the Observatory and how their data is used in

Beautiful Day 2013-06-10 17:55:09.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Cleaning Up Beautiful conditions on the summit today allowed the summit staff to tackle some outdoor projects. Roger, Pete (IT Manager from the valley), Kaitlyn, Alex, and I all headed outside to fix, fabricate, and clean up the deck and tower. Pete and Roger worked hard on the top of the tower installing radio antennas. This project took quite a while but, the light winds made it easy to do their installations. On the deck, Kaitlyn, Alex, and I worked on pulling old cable and moving paving tiles into one

Intern Research 2013-06-09 15:45:29.000 - Alex Carne,  Summit Intern NULL Mount Washington's extreme climate has made it a prime location for meteorological research. Much of the research that is conducted by the observatory is performed by interns in the form of research projects. Every season, the interns of the observatory are assigned a new research project aimed at discovering new details about the weather and climate of Mount Washington.The project that I have been assigned compares the relationship between the climate and avalanche history of Tuckerman Ravine (Tucks). There is no weather station in Tucks that can directly measure the

Summer Season has Arrived Here on the Summit 2013-06-08 19:18:38.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Life here on the 'rock' pile is moving more and more into summer mode. The Cog is now running to the summit on a daily basis through the end of the October. If you're a Railroad Buff, this is a great way to get to the summit and the first train of the day is generally one of the coal fired steam engines.The Auto Road is also open daily (weather permitting) with a few special happenings each month like the Sunrise Drives that

A Rainy Weekend 2013-06-07 16:25:39.000 - Kaitlyn O`Brien,  Summit Intern NULL As the remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea steadily move up the Eastern seaboard, we will see plenty of moisture over the next couple of days. But that won't dampen our spirits up here on the summit! Yesterday, I was lucky enough to visit with one of my college professors who was traveling in the area and decided hike up Mount Washington before the rain moved in. As a new intern, what better way to practice giving tours of the Observatory than by giving one to my college Dynamics professor?

Taking Advantage of Todays Weather 2013-06-06 16:26:36.000 - Cyrena Briede,  Director of Summit Operations IT Manager, Pete, working on the tower today. During our weekly weather briefing at shift change yesterday, we discussed the forecast and knew Wednesday was likely going to be the best day the upcoming shift saw all week. Clouds and precipitation were going to move in on Thursday, hang around for the weekend, and conditions were to improve again at the end of the shift. As much as we like the extreme weather and high winds, we also like the occasional nice calm days to get

The Flow of Things 2013-06-05 23:52:07.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Some color this evening. It feels odd returning to my routine of drinking coffee at 11 pm at night so I can make it through the night shift. Working nights for me is nothing new; however, I have not stayed up past 1 am since my last night shift back on April 30/May 1, over a month ago. So, tonight may be a struggle. But I am not too concerned since I have been working night shifts on the summit of Mount Washington and elsewhere for over a decade

Still Icy Here on the Summit 2013-06-04 17:24:22.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer A View of the Rime Ice from Foot Level After breaking the daily record high temperature for June 1st and tying the daily high for June 2nd, I was starting to get used to doing observations in full-on summer gear. Last night, however, I was kept awake by chilly temperatures in the 20's, combined with near hurricane force winds. When I woke up this afternoon, I was surprised to find temperatures still hovering below freezing and feathers of glaze and rime covering the summit. In other news,

Mother Nature's Television 2013-06-03 08:55:52.000 - Tom Padham,  Summit Intern Rainbow after a passing shower Mother Nature provided for plenty of excitement Sunday afternoon as a line of strong storms crossed the summit. Around 4pm the line reached the summit, with heavy rain quickly beginning to fall and winds from the thunderstorm downdraft causing a ramp up from only 25mph before the storm to a peak gust of 101mph! This tied the highest winds I had ever seen on the summit, which was also personally very exciting for me. In addition to the high winds, up to quarter inch hail

A stormy Sunday ahead. 2013-06-01 18:01:58.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Seeing Red (=30% of severe t-storms) After a brief day off the summit in order to fight a cold and fever it was back to work for me last night, taking the oh-so-familiar 30 minute drive up the Auto Road to work. It's a funny feeling being off the summit when you know your shift is up there working when you can see work pretty plainly from your own house. Thankfully I'm back up at work and excited about the possibilities of some severe weather looking to make