Northern Presidential Traverse 2011-03-21 21:17:54.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Northern Presidentials Traverse Today was my first full day back on the summit since Thursday. My options were either to take vacation or lose it, so, being the sensible person that I am, I took vacation. I took the second half of Thursday off and had a fine commute down the East Fields, across the Alpine Garden, and down Right Gully. All the snow was beautifully corned up, there was a bluebird sky above, and it was St. Patrick's Day. Awesome. I couldn't leave quite yet with such perfect conditions,

Snowmobiles, on the summit! 2011-03-20 17:51:09.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Antique Snowmobiles Around midday today, Becca asked me "Do they allow snowmobiles on the Auto Road?". My answer was no, followed by an inquiry as to why she asked. A look out the window answered that question, as I saw quite a few snowmobiles coming around the corner just below Home Stretch. They weren't just any snowmobiles though, they were antique ones, belonging to folks in the New England Antique Snowmobile Club. I recalled that the Auto Road has allowed these special snowmobiles to come up the road

The earth, sun, and moon 2011-03-19 18:41:45.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Pillar and late light on the Mt Clay. Yesterday was a fairly windy day on the summit. From 6 am until 6 pm, we had hourly winds averaging 75 mph or more and for four of those hours, winds were averaging over 90 mph, all well within a category 1 hurricane classification. At its peak we even had a guest hit 122 mph. Now, yesterdays winds weren't that uncommon for the summit even for mid-March. Nor was it the strongest Brian or I have seen in our time

Mount Washington Makes the World Seem Small 2011-03-18 16:43:01.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Summit Intern National Commanders of Pershing Rifles in Ohio For the past four and a half years I have held a number of major positions in The National Society of Pershing Rifles, a Tri-Service Military organization. This past off week was our annual National Competition and Convention held in Columbus at The Ohio State University. It was a packed three day event with active and alumni members in attendance from across the country. Despite being so insanely busy during the event I did find time to socialize with

Potential for high winds 2011-03-17 23:24:46.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Saint Patty's Day Lenticular Clouds It's been a crazy couple of weeks on the summit. We've had a ton of overnight guests, and day trips as well. On top of that, Ryan has taken some time off, I took a few days to do some work from our Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, and now fellow day observer Mike Finnegan is off until Sunday afternoon. This constant flux of people and staff certainly keeps us busy, and definitely makes the time fly by. Honestly, it's very hard

Springing into spring 2011-03-16 23:29:55.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Still winter up here. The changes in the season are slowly creeping up on us. While astronomical spring and the vernal equinox won't happen for a few more days (Sunday, March 20th at 7:21 pm EDT), there are other subtle signs that keep popping up that spring and inevitably summer are just around the corner. The first is daylight savings. This past Sunday, daylight savings sprung most clocks in New England up an hour making for a "longer day" (although that's debatable in the grand scheme of things). It also

NULL 2011-03-15 14:01:21.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist The Bright White Summit Back from the dead.Alive and kickin'.Name your cliche...but whichever way you slice it, I'm back on the summit, if only for a very brief stint.As Stacey alluded to in yesterday's comments, I had a nasty scuffle with the flu, which fortunately commenced before my scheduled return trip to the summit, allowing me to carry out this battle in the comfort of my own home, rather than up here.I've had a lot of firsts in my life since working at the Obs, but the contraction of this nasty bug

NULL 2011-03-14 13:51:54.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist We really needed a picture! How do you tell if it is raining cats and dogs? If you go outside and step in the poodles! Mike Carmon returned to the summit today! That is certainly something to celebrate. Besides his boyish good looks and light and easy-going personality, his superior forecasting skills have been missed. I'm pretty sure Marty has noticed his absence as well. He's been giving me that 'What have you done with my favorite observer?' accusing glare again.Why hasn't Mr. Carmon been on the summit? Well, upon waking

NULL 2011-03-12 21:06:29.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Well, it seems that my mood has shifted with the winds. Even though its insanely foggy (40 ft visibility) and it's still fairly cold and windy, the west wind seems to have blown away all of yesterday's bitterness. However, in light of recent events, with the devastating earth quake and resulting tsunami in Japan, I'd much rather talk about how to help Japan than the weather. Everyone who has access to any kind of media knows about the incredible force nature unleashed upon Japan. An 8.9 magnitude earthquake releases 1.41

NULL 2011-03-11 16:08:40.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist The weather is gross and mean and it beat me up today. In addition to a disgusting mix of precipitation, incredible amounts of glaze ice, and (to say the least) difficult walking conditions on the deck and parapet, southeast winds also seem to bring whiny, petulant observers. It is currently drizzling and 32F. Now that sounds pretty harmless. Drizzle is dreary, but it usually doesn't make observers want to curl up in the fetal position and cry for their mothers. It's not the drizzle that has rendered us into the four