More Signs of Spring 2012-04-19 16:33:42.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Summit Intern The Cog train with Mount Clay in the background. Here we are in mid April and the signs of spring are abound above treeline. Yesterday (Wednesday) on shift-change day our upcoming shift managed the first drive all the way up the mountain in our unchained 4x4 van. It's incredible that just over a week ago our shift left the summit and more than a foot of snow behind.Today's high temperatures in the lower 40s coupled with light winds and a strong April sun continued a string of pleasant weather

Volunteer Comments 2012-04-19 00:17:52.000 - Ed O'Malley,  Summit Volunteer Another volunteer week on the summit has drawn to a close. As usual, I enjoy my time here, cooked a lot of good food for a lot of good people, and took a lot of pictures. The summit offered us a wide range of weather and experiences this week, ranging from classic winter, to almost summer. As the Russian author Ivan Turgenev wrote (in Fathers and Sons, 1862), "A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound," (source: Wikipedia), or to put

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles 2012-04-17 23:37:00.000 - John Bauhs,  Summit Volunteer NULL Sometimes, life at the Obs can seem like the movies. In his 1987 movie 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles', director John Hughes's characters- Del Griffith and Neal Page - push-through various travel methods to eventually gain their goals.The travels to this wonderful week (is it week eleven or is it weektwelve?) on the summit seemed to parralel the script of the great Hughes film. It all began with a pre-dawn SuperShuttle ride from my home in Germantown, MD to BWI, then a flight to Boston Logan, a pick-up by

Warmth Returns 2012-04-16 23:22:37.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL This winter has been my 6th winter season spent working on the mountain, and in all that time, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the summit can change 'faces. In other words, how quickly it can go from mid-winter conditions one day to mid-summer the next, or vice versa. This can be especially true during transition seasons. This change of 'faces' has certainly occurred in very dramatic fashion over the last 24 to 36 hours.I wrote a few days ago about how impressive the changes have been

New Challenges 2012-04-15 00:58:29.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Footprints in the snow Although today may not be a traditional shift change day, it is shift change day for me, in more ways than one. I am heading off the mountain for a quick set of days off. Starting on Wednesday I will be returning and joining the other shift as a new member. After working with my current shift since I began here on the summit I will miss them, but will have shift change days to look forward to. The reason I am switching shifts is due

Changes 2012-04-14 00:06:23.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Drifting around the Tip Top House When I left the mountain on March 17 to start my vacation, we were just heading into a long stretch of extremely unseasonable warmth. Knowing this, and the fact that the outlook for the rest of March was for continued warmth, I figured that by the time I returned on April 11, the mountain would look very different than it did when I left it. As is often the case, Mount Washington had some surprises up her proverbial sleeve.Today was actually the first snowless day

Big Wind Day 2012-04-12 18:43:46.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL I would be remiss in writing today's comment about anything other than the single event that was, without a doubt, the most important in the history of Mount Washington Observatory: The Big Wind. Today is, of course, the anniversary of The Big Wind, which is how we affectionately refer to the highest wind speed that we have ever recorded here on Mount Washington. April 12, 1934 was the date, and 231 miles per hour was the wind speed.If you follow Mount Washington related news at all, then you

Winter Wonderland 2012-04-11 19:28:51.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Operations Assistant Snow Covered Summit Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had not decided to join the Mount Washington Observatory team almost two years ago. I think about all the once in a lifetime experiences I never would have seen or experienced. I ponder what I might think a windy day was like, or what cold really feels like. Luckily, I became an Intern in the spring of 2010 and have been here ever since. Today I was able to add another once in a life time experience

These April showers don't bring May flowers 2012-04-10 17:30:23.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist A patient Marty Winter is back with a vengeance.As of 2PM this afternoon, we had received a total of 22.8 inches of snow since we arrived on Wednesday, with 16.7 inches of that coming in the last three days from a persistent low pressure system that has sat and badgered New England for days.In my trek to the precipitation can last night, I was amazed to find a drift up to my chest waiting right outside the front entrance to the Sherman Adams building. With no

Winter, anyone? 2012-04-09 15:38:04.000 - Brian Fitzgerald,  Summit Intern Marty looking on, waiting for the snow to end. And now an update on day four of our shift week now named 'operation low pressure system wandering aimlessly across New England.' Okay, so let me explain. Since Friday a low pressure system has worked itself backwards- that's right, backwards, from north of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and has trailed southwestward toward Quebec, slowly deepening and intensifying. The result: consistent winds from the northwest in the 50 to 70 MPH range, constant thick fog and moderate snow now totaling 15.9 inches and