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

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