A Spectacular 24 Hours 2012-10-08 23:13:07.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Tonight's Aurora It's been quite a thrilling 24 hours up here on Mt. Washington.Even though I've been working up here for as long as I have, with many shift weeks consisting of 8 days completely ensconced in the fog with not a thing to see, there comes those times where it's an absolute pleasure to exist up on the rock pile.Last night, snow started to descend around 9:30 P.M., and continued to fall until 3 A.M. In that time, we received about 4 inches of powder, which remained light

The Life of a Volunteer 2012-10-06 23:04:16.000 - John Donovan,  Summit Volunteer NULL Well, as an MWOBS member, one of the opportunities is to volunteer for service on a shift at the one and only Mount Washington Observatory. Once assigned a shift, you then wait in eager anticipation for the day to come. A volunteer's responsibilities include cooking for the Obs crew, light cleaning, and maybe some painting if needed (don't bring your good clothes for that). In exchange, you get to know the really knowledgeable weather crew, and hang out on the 'Rockpile' Home of the World's Worst Weather.So,

The Summit Experience 2012-10-05 21:14:48.000 - Samantha Brady,  Summit Museum Supervisor NULL Everyday on the summit of Mount Washington is an adventure. As the Museum Attendant, you may think I get to experience the changing of the weather as much as the observers, but that would be incorrect. Working on the summit in the museum requires long days working in a basement with no windows. I must ask almost everyone I see who walks down my stairs what the weather is like outside. Some understand why I ask, and others look at me with a very confused look on their

The World's Worst Weather2012-10-04 21:47:15.000 - Mike Dorfman,  Summit InternMount Washington is known for having the worst weather in the world. A relatively 'calm' 40 mph summer day can give a taste of how much more extreme summit weather can be from valley weather. This weather happens primarily for three reasons, the summit's prominence, its exposure and its storm tracks. At 6,288 feet, the summit is the highest point in the northeast. Normally, wind is slowed by friction from the ground. Air that collides with the summit has not been slowed by this friction, which allows for higher wind speeds

Volunteer Comments 2012-10-03 21:14:39.000 - Beverly LaFoley,  Summit Volunteer Cairn Golf Ball Sized Hail? No, not quite, but easy to see here on the summit of 'Big George' that it's only a matter of hours between beautiful sunshine and fall colors to snow and foggy white outs. Sound upside down and crazy? That it can be!I actually found the golf ball on day #1, on my first foray, walking down to the 'Cow Pasture' and Nelson Crag Trail, which is just off the Auto Road above the 6 mile mark. This is my week as one of the MWOBS volunteers

Farewell 2012-10-02 21:03:18.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist My final picture with the entire summit crew As I write this, I am just starting the overnight shift, which I have been working this past week in order to cover for Ryan while he is on vacation. This will be the last shift that I do as an observer on Mount Washington, almost exactly 5 years and 4 months after starting as a member of the full-time summit staff. Working at one place for nearly five and a half years may not sound like much to a lot of people,

October Orographic Uplift 2012-10-01 18:12:12.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Diagram of Orographic Uplift Happy October! It was quite the surprise to wake up to a blanketed-white summit and snow flakes flying. While a slight chance for mixed precipitation showers were in the forecast for today, it's always a pleasant surprise when you wake up to a new day and month.The white stuff made a transition to rain by late in the morning as low pressure moved offshore, though not quite taking all the rain with it. As most of the rain in the region tapered off, steady light

Internship Memories 2012-09-30 22:03:47.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Me in the East Snowfields, March 7, 2006 In case you're just tuning in, after nearly five and a half years (plus an internship) this shift is my last working for the Observatory. So, I have been taking the opportunity to look back on my time with the organization, and so far I have been talking particularly about how I ended up working for the Observatory in the first place. I really hope that my posts have been half as interesting to you as they have been therapeutic for me;

Releasing a Weather Balloon at NWS Gray 2012-09-29 19:32:39.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist Inflating a Weather Balloon at NWS Gray I'm going to break from the tradition of Observers writing about what's happening at the top of the 'rock' pile today and talk about an experience I had during my last off week.It was Thursday morning and I had gotten up early to a perfect day - The skies were clear, with low winds and the temperature was mild. Before I left for my week off I had made arrangements to pick up some equipment and the National

An Incredible Interview Experience 2012-09-28 21:45:11.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Shift Change Day, November 23, 2005 Yesterday I talked about my first Mount Washington experience in the spring of 2005. My second Mount Washington Experience? That came about 6 months later.I remember sitting in my mesoscale meteorology class in October of 2005, which happened to meet in a computer lab. As was probably the case way too often for me, I was not paying as much attention as I should have been and was instead using the computer. Stealthily, of course. On this particular day, I was checking