Beautiful Day 2013-04-15 17:17:12.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Looking to Wildcat It is a spectacular day on the summit! The sun is shining, winds are calm, and visibility is at it's peak. On days like today being outside for observations is a welcomed part of the job. Although the summit is still snow covered and has wintery touches left by Mother Nature yesterday, Spring is in the air! Today's temperature has inched as high as 28 degrees and the rime is slowing sublimating. If this were the weekend I can only imagine the number of people that would

Vasque Overnight 2013-04-14 16:34:50.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Vasque Group On The Summit Saturday marked the last scheduled overnight trip of the winter season here on Mount Washington. The participants of this trip consisted of representatives from Vasque, our official footwear sponsor. Friday morning, the nine precipitants made the arduous journey up the Mount Washington Auto Road. With spring conditions at the base and winter conditions at the top, the trip up saw a mix of precipitation which lengthened their journey.Once they arrived however, they quickly settled in. While they were here they had the opportunity to tour

An Aurora Borealis for the U.S. But Not Us 2013-04-13 23:43:20.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Let me start by reminding everyone that I am a meteorologist which means I study weather, not space or meteors and I work and the Mount Washington Observatory which observers the weather and not space or meteors. I just want to make that clear because I am about to talk about space and I don't want there to be any confusion as to my profession and about where I work. So with that being said, let get to tonight's Observer Comment. Working nights up

Happy Big Wind Day 2013-04-12 18:35:42.000 - Michael Kyle,  Summit Intern Happy Big Wind Day Everyone! For those of you who aren't familiar with Big Wind Day, Big Wind Day is a day in honor of one of our most notable weather events. It was on this day 79 years ago, that the observers at the newly founded Mount Washington Observatory recorded a wind speed of 231 MPH . Observers Salvatore Pagliuca, Alex McKenzie, Wendell Stephenson, along with several feline observers and two guests, had front row seats to the abnormally strong, late winter storm. In the 48 hours leading

Where Are You Spring? 2013-04-11 17:21:04.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL Where are you Spring? After this past off week I was certain spring had arrived. Returning to the summit I realized I was dreaming just a little too much. Although we were able to take the van with chains for a small portion of our commute, the Snow Tractor was still the primary mode of transportation. Once on the summit I was greeted by snow everywhere with only the occasional rock showing from scouring. It was apparent the summit is still very much a winter wonderland. As

Today Felt Just Right 2013-04-10 23:23:17.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Transitions of Spring. Scrolling through my Facebook news feed today, it seemed like everyone had something to say about the weather. If my friends/family were in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast/Southwest US it was too hot, if they were in the upper Midwest/Northwest/Upper Northeast US it was too cold, however for the few that were wedged between the two extremes, today was just right. It was almost like Mother Nature let the three bears (from Goldilocks) take over the weather for the day or something. So where did the summit of Mount

Redundant Redundancy 2013-04-09 17:38:49.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL As you might imagine, it's extremely important for our weather station to constantly record quality data. Here at the Mount Washington Observatory we have numerous strategies for ensuring quality and consistent data which as you might imagine can be a very difficult thing to manage for 80+ years. For each weather variable that we observe and record there are typically several instruments recording at once with several back up instruments waiting in the wings. A perfect example of this would easily be how we record temperature. Here on Mount

Up-And-Down Week 2013-04-08 14:39:09.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Wavy Clouds on Sunday Morning We've had some fairly up-and-down weather this shift.When we arrived (a day late, no dollars short) on Thursday, the summit was fully in the clear, with temperatures about normal (mid to upper teens), and breezy west winds. After rising up into the 20s later on Thursday and Friday, a cold front brought us back down into the negative numbers by Saturday.While Saturday started out as one of those typical Mt. Washington mornings--summit firmly in the fog, visibility less than 100 feet, and consistent rime icing--the sun

T-Shirt Weather on Mount Washington Is Not Quite Here 2013-04-07 17:36:35.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Weather Observer NULL After a brief hike over to Clay today (for those of you not familiar, it's about a 2.5 mile round-trip hike from the summit), I fully understood how the balmy valley conditions can be misleading. I was surprised by the amount of blowing snow, limiting visibility to about 50 feet in front of me and pelting every inch of my body to the point where even the snow hitting my jacket was becoming painful. The quickly melting snow patches in the valley are

From one friend to another. 2013-04-06 13:33:12.000 - Charlie Hawkins,  Summit Volunteer Friends This is my third time volunteering on the summit. The first two times were with my best friend Brad Bradstreet. Brad always loved being on top of the highest place in the north east but a year ago today he went to be in the highest place of all. Brad passed away and left me with a hole in my life but he will be with us all the time. I'm spending my week on the summit with a good friend John Donovan. We starting talking online