The Fall Internship 2012-06-25 23:35:21.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL Summer just officially started a few days ago, so that means it's time to think about fall interns! Wait, that doesn't sound right, does it? Amazingly enough though it is, to a certain extent. Hiring our interns, which change along with the school year schedule, takes quite a bit of advanced planning. Because of that, we start to sort through applications well ahead of the actual start date of any particular season's interns. In this case, in just a few short weeks, we will start to look at

What Happened to the "garden" in the Alpine Garden 2012-06-24 23:33:07.000 - Adam Brainard,  Summit Intern Spring 2012 High Temperatures As many repeat visitors to the summit may have noticed, the garden (for which Alpine Garden trail is named) has been a bit less spectacular this year. No, the flora has not been victim to a rockslide, a fire, or death by a thousand flashbulbs (or worse, footsteps); but the decline can likely be attributed to weather. As seen in the graph attached, the summit experienced a significant March thaw that brought well above freezing temperatures for nearly two weeks.

Changeable Weather 2012-06-23 23:07:38.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL As is often the case on Mount Washington, today's weather started very differently than it ended. When I started my shift just before 6 o'clock this morning, only mid and high level clouds covered the sky above us. It was only a few hours later though that convection around the mountain started in the form of a few random towering cumulus, and the by midday cumulus clouds were building up all around us. The rest of the day saw numerous showers, a brief period of small hail, and several

Auroras on the Summit 2012-06-22 19:35:16.000 - Christopher Gregg,  Summit Intern Auroras to the North of the summit Getting to spend my summer up on Mount Washington, there are a number of things I had expected (or rather hoped) to see over my internship. Snow in parts of the year that you normally don't expect, high winds, storms going right over the summit, extremely thick fog, rime ice, and spectacular scenery. Beyond that, I recently had the privilege of seeing something that didn't cross my mind up till part way into my experience on the summit, the Aurora Borealis. It's

Summer has 'officially' arrived on the Summit 2012-06-21 21:23:12.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Schools out and summer is finally 'officially' here and the Tourist season on the Summit is in full swing. I took a few minutes to drop down to the Museum this morning and chat with Anthony for a bit. With the heavy fog this morning most of the guests had come up on the Cog.It's always interesting to chat with the guests especially to hear the reasons they make the trek to the Summit - For some it's to experience the high winds for

Quickie News That Mattered to Me Today 2012-06-20 23:49:30.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Thunderstorm with our weather tower, sunset today. So, rather than focus on any one particular point in this comment, I will call it quickie news of five things that mattered to me today.1. It was the first day of summer. That also means that the days around this date are the longest days of the year with about 943 available sunshine minutes on the summit of Mount Washington. Working nights up here, I cherish these days because it allows me to actually get to see the

A Member's Comments 2012-06-19 23:10:18.000 - Charles G. Staples,  Mount Washington Observatory Member Mount Washington has always been a source of inspiration to me. I got my love of the mountains and hiking from my father Harold. He was a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and Green Mountain Club. When I was 7, he signed me up for membership to the Observatory and I've been a member ever since. That was 75 years ago.I'm 82 now and have climbed Mount Washington about 60 times. That's just a guess. I haven't climbed it for about 12 or 13 years now.

Where's the Wind Gone? 2012-06-18 23:34:58.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist H.O.T.W.W.W.? This shift week has certainly been one of the calmest I can recall in my four years on the summit.A high pressure center drifted eastward late last week, and set up shop over New England on Thursday. Ever since, winds have not been able to muster much strength.Here are some statistics from Thursday through today (Monday). The first figure for each day is the daily average wind speed, and the second figure (after the slash) is the daily peak wind gust. Be aware that Monday's statistics are incomplete,

Father's Day Butterfly 2012-06-17 18:12:28.000 - Samantha Brady,  Summit Museum Supervisor Marissa & the Butterfly It has been yet another beautiful day up here at the Observatory.With the warm temperatures and the light winds comes along lotsof visitors. Not only do we have swarms of people from all over the worldvisiting Mount Washington, we also have swarmsof bugs. As much as folks don't enjoy most of the insects, there is one typethat many do enjoy, and that is the butterfly.While visitors were heading off the Cog to enjoy the sceneryand to learn the history of the Mount Washington Observatory, one

Mount Washington Road Race 2012-06-16 17:32:00.000 - Steve Harshman,  Summit Intern Runners Closing in on the Finish What a fantastic day to go for a run, and clearly others around the mountain felt the same. Not sure if I would chose an 8-mile run all uphill but that's exactly what close to 1,000 runners decided to take part in today.Hosted by the Mount Washington Auto Road, the Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race is an annual event where courageous athletes attempt the long trek from the base of the Auto Road to the summit. While the race's slogan, 'Only