Jeff Derosa at Lakes Environmental Tonight! 2011-11-18 11:47:01.000 - Rick Giard,  Weather Observer / Education Specialist Jeff Derosa This evening you can enjoy a great local talk by our own Jeff Derosa. Jeff is very knowledgeable about all aspects of Mount Washington, having worked atop the summit for several years. Currently Outreach Coordinator at MWOBS, his duties include leading the popular overnight summit Winter EduTrips. He has also experienced weather in Antarctica almost as severe as the summit of Mount Washington - spending nearly two years conducting surface and upper atmospheric observations at the South Pole where he endured a

A Legacy 80 Years in the Making 2011-11-17 02:48:16.000 - Scot Henley,  Executive Director A legacy 80 years in the making In just a little more than a month, the Observatory will celebrate its 80th year on Mount Washington.That's eight decades of weather observation, research, and public outreach-an impressive milestone, made even more impressive by the fact that it was funded by individual members, donors and fans.If you are reading this blog, you obviously appreciate the work that we do. Well, consider this: This blog, this website, and this entire organization are funded primarily by private donations. Donations given by

Precipitation Formation: Part One 2011-11-16 17:06:58.000 - Rick Giard,  Weather Observer / Education Specialist NULL Last week the general theme for these remarks was cloud types. This week we shall focus on the most important element of weather produced by clouds, namely precipitation. This element puts the 'meteor' in meteorology. The technical term given to precipitation is the 'hydrometeor' - particles of water in various forms that fall from the sky. If you have visited Mount Washington at any time of year, you know that the summit receives a great deal of precipitation in every conceivable variety. Have you contemplated

Busted Snow Light 2011-11-15 20:58:50.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Rime on the Snow Light when it's working. Outside our northern set of windows, we have a light attached to a post which we refer to as 'the snow light'. What this simplistic 'instrument' does is helps us determine is whether or not we have falling or blowing snow outside. If the snow is parallel with the ground, likely it is blowing, if falling from above or at a high enough angle, likely it is falling. It is not our only method of determining blowing vs. falling snow, but it

...back down to the valley, valley so low... 2011-11-14 17:28:39.000 - Judy Heininger,  Weather Discovery Center Attendant NULL ...back down to the valley, valley so low... I have the privilege ofworking at the Weather Discovery Center for the Mount WashingtonObservatory, at the Observatory's valley headquarters in North Conway. With that position came the opportunity to participate in this year'sfirst winter overnight EduTrip: Studying Stars from the Summit. Aspromised, Dave McDonald, Director of Education at the McAuliffe-ShepardDiscovery Center, provided an overview of basic observational astronomy. We learned about 'star hopping' as a way to remember constellations, wegot to check out refractive,

Warming Up 2011-11-13 17:37:55.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Marty, taking in the view from the Weather Room As Roger mentioned yesterday, we had our first EduTrip of the season up with us through this afternoon. The participants were treated to some fog-free weather late last night, and then a very nice sunrise this morning. I was especially glad that it cleared out for a time last night, considering the top of this particular trip was astronomy.The fog-free conditions continued through out today, but as is always the case, the fog will be returning very soon. Also, after a

The first Edu-Trip of the season has arrived 2011-11-12 18:25:58.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist The first EduTrippers of the season The EduTrippers made it to the Summit around 11:30 this morning after several stops along the Auto Road to do a little sightseeing and picture taking for an overnight at the Observatory with Trip Leader Dave McDonald who's the Directory of Education at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, NH. The topic of this EduTrip is Studying Stars from the Summit. One of the comments I heard was "We went from late fall to early winter on the

Change in Weather 2011-11-10 17:25:30.000 - David Narkewicz,  Summit Intern NULL It was a very nice surprise to get some abnormally warm temperatures over my last off shift. I expected that it would be one of the last time this Fall I was going to see warmer temperatures in the Northeast. Therefore I took full advantage of the conditions and enjoyed some outdoor activities with friends. Even on the summit yesterday the weather was pleasant. It always makes shift change easier when the weather is cooperating with mild temperatures and winds with clear skies.These conditions did not extend into today

It's snow gone 2011-11-09 18:45:00.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Sunset this afternoon. 'Where'd all the snow go!?' - A question uttered by more than one of us as we made our way to the summit today. During our last shift, an early season Nor'easter dumped snow across the entire state. This snow cover along with some black ice that formed at the lower elevations forced us to chain up our 4x4 van at the base of the summit so we could make our way up and back down again. As we headed down last week, our van maneuvered around

Earth Science Education - Mount Washington Style 2011-11-08 22:54:54.000 - Rick Giard,  Weather Observer / Education Specialist Summit Sunset Dome Cam After a cold front swept across the summits late yesterday, last night winds gusted over 80 MPH along with freezing fog depositing rime and glaze ice. This morning we abruptly broke out into a real gem on the higher summits. Upon gathering the observational data and planning radio show content, it was a last-minute rush to revise the programs. Freezing fog and near-zero visibility? No, wait - mostly sunny and 90 miles! It is always fun to extemporize on