Programs Galore! 2013-01-13 16:56:05.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Brian outside during a program! It's been a busy week up on the Rockpile, and for a moment we get a bit of a breather between trips and visitors to the summit; playoff football anyone? It's been a particularly busy week for Distance Learning Programs, which as the Education Specialist, and the staffer charged with delivering programs, it's been fun and very rewarding getting to reach out to as many schools and students as possible. For those of you who don't know exactly what Distance Learning programs are all about,

Don't Sweat It 2013-01-12 17:47:31.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist One of many puddles of water Weather is extremely variable by nature. Despite the calendar saying January, and our climate data telling us that our high temperature today and tomorrow should be somewhere in the vicinity of 5F, nature has a different plan.Today's daily record high is 40F, and we've managed to hit 38F so far today, with more moderation expected through the evening and early tonight. This record may very well bite the dust at any time.The unseasonable warmth has turned our snowy summit into a mish-mosh of water

Windy on the Summit 2013-01-10 18:29:17.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Summit Intern The Observatory's Snow Cat Parked on the Summit Last night when I sat down on my bed to begin a good night's sleep, I noticed a loud humming noise-almost like someone had an extremely loud sound system turned up playing a song that consisted of one constant bass note. It was the type of sound that you feel more than you hear. For a split second, I went back to my college years and assumed my neighbors had turned up their music too loud, but then I remembered that

Volunteer's Thoughts 2013-01-09 22:00:12.000 - Adam Scott,  Summit Volunteer (Rhode Island) Summit Sunset Anytime that you have the opportunity to come to the summit of Mt. Washington, you never quite know what type of weather you will be greeted with. Being that this is my first winter week on the mountain as a summit volunteer, I had been wondering what type of weather I would encounter. I never could have imagined that the weather would be so varied and ever changing with each passing day.Our summit ride up in the Snow Cat on Thursday gave us weather that we never

Volunteer Comment 2013-01-08 18:34:40.000 - Neil Lovett,  Summit Volunteer Neil standing on the summit. The late, great Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once wrote: 'I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.'I came to Mt. Washington in the winter to live by the edge. Make no mistake, here, you are not communing with nature, you are merely baring witness to a power to which you, as an individual, or we as a society have absolutely no control over.

Encased in Ice 2013-01-07 18:38:58.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist Observation Tower Encased in Ice Early this morning, the summit cleared after being in snow and fog for the past few days. This allowed our volunteers to get out and do some hiking. As we first cleared, we still had a layer of clouds below the summit. However, as a cold front passed with drier air behind it, those clouds eventually disappeared over the next few hours, leaving a sky that was almost completely clear.As you can see from the picture to the right, the tower is almost completely

The Night Observer Shovels 2013-01-06 20:03:00.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Saturdays Sunset Shoveling is typically an intern/day shift duty, so working the night shifts, I don't often get the opportunity to help out on this task. This week however, I got an opportunity to take up a shovel and help out my fellow daytime counterparts. Normally our shoveling is centered on 5 different exits/zones: the front entrance, the northeast exits, the south tower exit, the deck-level tower exit, and the top of the tower. By the time I woke up this afternoon, there were only two exits left to

Winter has set in on the Summit 2013-01-05 22:54:23.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL After an absolutely incredible Snow Cat ride up the mountain on Thursday, the weather turned back to cold, foggy, and windy for Friday and much of the first part of today. We're currently reporting a snow depth of twenty-four inches on the ground. That doesn't mean when you walk around the summit you're going to be up to your knees in snow everywhere, that's just the average estimated depth. You can find places that have drifted much deeper and other areas where the winds

Mount Washington, Not So Inviting Today 2013-01-04 17:48:15.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL Some days the mountain is not welcoming to guests. Today an Eastern Mountain Sports climbing trip was scheduled to hike up and spend the night with us on one of our Partner Led Climbing Trips. However, the weather seemed to be working against them. Cold temperatures, high winds and poor visibility made even getting observations tricky. For a group climbing to the summit, this becomes even more dangerous. For us, we are never more then a few steps out the door and can get inside

Cloud Iridescence 2013-01-03 19:43:34.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Deicing the 5300' ARVP site w/ Cloud iridescence As we ascended the mountain this morning, there was an overabundance of blue skies surrounding the summit. However, it wasn't 100 percent clear as there was a small strip of Altocumulus Lenticularis hovering just to the east of the mountain. Lenticular clouds are always neat to see and watch as they morph into various shapes minute to minute like a natural atmospheric lava lamp. As we ascended the mountain for shift change day, I continued to keep an eye on these clouds, just