Busy Week 2011-12-05 17:53:44.000 - Steve Welsh,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Well IT wise it's been a busy week up here. After several weeks of preparation we switched over our main database server on Friday. So far everything is working well and now it's time for all the tedious, but essential, documentation!On Friday this shift saw its first overnight guests for the new winter season. A hiking trip stopped over - with all the mild weather and very little snow or ice they had a very Fall like experience. If you think you'd like to try something like this then

Weekly Weather Summary 11/27-12/03 2011-12-04 20:31:40.000 - Rick Giard,  Weather Observer / Education Specialist Weekly Summary 11/27-12/3 WEEKLY WEATHER SUMMARYNov. 27th - Dec. 3rdContinuing the recent trend, this week featured more anomalously warm temperatures. Thus, despite a good amount of precipitation around midweek totaling in excess of three inches liquid, snow has been scarce. Moreover, the meager snow pack has once again dwindled to traces of patchy snow and rime nestled between the rocks. Starting out with a warm front Sunday followed closely by the associated cold front Monday, mild, foggy and showery were the primary characteristics. These disturbances failed

What's up with the weather? 2011-12-03 23:03:00.000 - Mike Carmon,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist NULL What's up with the weather?It seems we keep uttering the same phrase up here on the summit: 'This time, the snow pack won't melt out.' Our crew was convinced of this fact before our early departure last shift in advance of the Thanksgiving Eve snowstorm. With a healthy 10 inches of snow falling on the summit, and a large dose of heavy wet snow blanketing the valleys below, this time, it REALLY won't melt out.But yet another Wednesday went by without the use of the increasingly lonely

The Rock Pile Looms Large 2011-12-02 17:26:36.000 - Rick Giard,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist Casting a Long Shadow In yesterday's comment, Kevin discussed the refractive optical phenomenon known as the glory, produced dramatically over a thick undercast. Continuing with the general theme of atmospheric optics, this morning we observed an excellent demonstration of haze interfering with visibility. Additionally, the seasonal variation of solar angle and shadowing in mountainous terrain are becoming evident. The Rock Pile looms large over this region!I snapped this photograph today shortly before 7:30 A.M., roughly a half-hour after summit sunrise. Notice the prominent shadow distinctly cast westward

Glory 2011-12-01 14:16:40.000 - Kevin Cronin,  Summit Intern Glory Yesterday a shortwave moving through the New England area kept us in the clouds and provided us with upslope snow showers in the afternoon. However, the weather is magnificent on the summit today as colder dryer air filters in from Canada. The fog cleared up this morning allowing us to see a rime encrusted summit once again. Temperatures are hovering in the lower 20s but these temperatures are normal for this time of year. Undercast could be seen below the summit giving the summit staff a great view out the weather

Words and Purrs from Marty 2011-11-30 22:47:04.000 - Marty,  Summit Cat Marty Surveys The undoubtedly-subordinate observers on the summit have once again clogged the MWO cyberspace with their thoughts, grievances, and ruminations as of late, and haven't allowed the most adored member of the summit staff to tell his side of the story. So here I am, in the flesh and fur, to enthrall my doting fans with the most essential opinions of my mountaintop domain.First of all, I'm not sure why everyone seems to be complaining about what they refer to as 'unseasonable warmth.' The dry winter air makes

NULL 2011-11-29 21:28:00.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist Dear Santa-Where did the year go? It seems like just yesterday I was writing you and yet, here we are once again with me in charge of writing to you with our Observatory Christmas List. Since this will be the fifth time I have written you in my (nearly) six years up here, I have the process down to an exact science: 1. Hand written note mailed out to you no later than November first. 2. Email sent to you no later than Thanksgiving. 3. A preliminary New Hampshire forecast for Christmas

Too Warm 2011-11-28 23:37:48.000 - Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist NULL While quite a few of you out there are probably enjoying the unseasonably warm weather (if you live in the northeast), I am not one of those people. In fact, the weather over the last several days has been downright depressing for me. For at least the third time in this still young winter season, we have built up a bit of a snowpack only to see it dwindle away shortly after. This time, last week's coastal storm that dropped nearly 10 inches of new snow has almost completely

Another point of view on our 30 year data 2011-11-27 17:32:51.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist A nice distraction today from climate data work. In yesterday's comment, Roger mentioned how much joy he was getting out of "playing" with our climatological data. But you know what they say, one man's joy is another man's sorrow. While Roger has been enjoying the task of making inquiries into our database, pulling several lines of code, importing them into excel and calculating the data, I have been working through not only our data but that provided by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

We're working on new 30 year Normals, Means and Extremes 2011-11-26 19:00:27.000 - Roger Pushor,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist NULL Over the past few days I've been working with Ryan Knapp who's our Meteorologist on my shift to get the 30 Year Normals, Means and Extremes page updated with 1981 to 2010 data which we're currently targeting to have completed by the first of January. For any of you who know me you know I love to work with numbers so I'm in heaven right now.For those Members who've had the opportunity to tour the Observatory you've probably heard that we