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

To the Light! 2013-04-05 16:17:22.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist NULL With the departure of Steve from MWO, our shift was left with a void during the daytime. Who would fill that gaping chasm? Well, as it turns out, it would be me.After a little over 4 years of working the night shift, I have done an about-face, switching to working the day shift, in order to (at least partially) fill the gap that Steve left behind. It certainly is a whole different ball game during the day--more interaction with other human beings, sunshine, grey fog instead of black fog,

Another week, a day late. 2013-04-04 17:26:41.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist The snowcat next to one of the major drifts. It's back to work for the Mike, Mike and Brian shift, though for the second shift in a row we are starting the work week a day late, thanks in part to nasty shift-change-day summit conditions. It might have been sunny and beautiful down in the valley yesterday, but up here on the rockpile the other shift experienced wind gusts topping out at 118 MPH blowing snow all around the summit cone. Yesterday stayed so consistently windy that

Volunteer Comment 2013-04-03 15:45:06.000 - Werner and Conny Griesshammer,  Summit Volunteers Family portrait at the summit sign. We came up last week into the clouds while there was plenty of sunshine and talk about spring in the valley. Now another week as volunteers for the Mount Washington Observatory is slowly coming to an end. Most likely we will leave the summit tomorrow in wintery conditions, after being delayed by a day.As previous comments already mentioned, we had a wonderful winter Easter weekend and plenty of skiers and hikers gave the summit a look as if all Easter bunnies of the

January in April 2013-04-02 20:02:22.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Temperatures from today. Looking at our weather in the coming days, it is almost as if Mother Nature is pulling an extended April Fools' joke on us. The calendar is clearly reading April - a spring month; however everything around us is reading like January - a winter month. It is lightly snowing, blowing snow is dense and everywhere, and fog is thick with everything coming together to make for white out conditions in all directions. Temperatures struggled to just above 0F today but are currently falling below zero to

April Fools 2013-04-01 16:26:24.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL Today marked the end of a beautiful weekend. The past two days have had stellar visibility, low winds, and mild temperatures. I could not have asked for a better end to the month of March. If it was any indication of what this spring might hold, I am in. But surprise! One day later and the mountain has presented an entirely different scene. Fog, snow, and increasing winds have sent the summit back into a winter state today. Hopefully this is Mother Nature's form of an April Fools day

Great Weather And Easter Goodies 2013-03-31 17:24:58.000 - Michael Kyle,  Summit Intern Easter Goodies Happy Easter everyone. I hope that you were able to enjoy the amazing weather we had this weekend. Unfortunately it will be coming to an end as the next storm system moves in tonight. The past two days dozens of people made their way up Mount Washington to take advantage of the great backcountry skiing. Conditions were great for end of the season runs. Several people even wore bunny ears on their climb up for the holiday weekend, making for some interesting pictures next to the

March - In Like a Lion - Out Like a Lamb 2013-03-30 20:47:38.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Here on the summit, March came in like a lion with the first eight days having snow at some point during the day. Even after receiving nearly 69 inches of snow in March, you can start to feel that spring is in the air with nearly an hour and a half added to the length of day and warmer temperatures.Today was a nearly perfect early spring day here on the summit with temperatures in the upper teens and winds from

One Year Later 2013-03-29 15:57:17.000 - Michael Kyle,  Summit Intern NULL About this time last year I was sitting in my physical meteorology class learning about cloud physics. During one of my professor's lectures he talked about rime ice. He explained that when an object is in the fog or inside a cloud, and the air temperature is below the freezing point, microscopic water droplets can remain in liquid form in a supercooled state. These supercooled droplets that making up the cloud will freeze on contact as soon as they impact an object. As the droplets continue to impact the

Winter Fun In Spring 2013-03-28 18:50:58.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Northern Presidentials this morning. Driving through Pinkham Notch during the winter, I always pass a US Forest Service sign that reads 'The White Mountains Are Winter Fun!' And in the winter months, I always find myself thinking, 'Yeah they are!' However, since it is technically spring, I feel like the sign should now read 'The White Mountains Are 'Still' Winter Fun!' or 'The White Mountains Are Winter Fun...Even In Spring!' But, I'm not one to deface federal or private property, so this is more wishful thinking than anything. However,