Whoops! 2010-11-28 23:51:35.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist First off, let me just say, sorry about todays higher summits forecast, I blew it. I tried my best like I do every morning. I spend two hours or more each morning pouring over data preparing for my morning forecasts. I look at several satellite loops with various color enhancements (done manually and not done by yelling "enhance" at the computer or tech support like they do in movies). I look at surrounding stations current and past observations. I look at our own mesonet for information. I look at NHDOT and VDOT

Ups and downs of weather 2010-11-27 23:08:56.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist As you may have read in other Observer Comments, we all pretty much love winter up here. So, when we exited October, and monthly averages were computed, most of us were living pretty optimistic about the wintry months ahead. At the end of the month or October, the temperature was 2.5F below the normal average monthly temperature. So that meant that the start of our winter months (October thru May) was starting off colder than normal. Precipitation saw a surplus of 0.40 inches which is always nice to

Winter Day after Thanksgiving 2010-11-26 16:25:01.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Thanksgiving Dinner It is a nice, wintery Friday up here with yesterday's 100+ mile views replaced with freezing fog and a variety of precipitation. It has been an interesting day precipitation-wise with freezing rain and ice pellets falling and glaze ice accruing at 22 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a bit unusual as rime and snow would be expected at temperatures that cold, but there must have been a warm layer aloft that it was falling through before reaching us. I'll give a little reminder on the difference between glaze

Thanksgiving 2010-11-25 17:18:54.000 - Erica Sandschulte,  Summit Intern Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Today started off great, we had visibility of 110 miles and broken clouds over the summits for the better part of the day; overall it was another beautiful day...all we need is the snow to complete the beauty for a winter landscape. My wish for snow probably won't happen today, but just after mid-night this evening we are expecting another round of mixed precipitation. A cold front will cross the region tomorrow, temperatures will drop and snow will present itself once again to the higher elevations. After the

Five Years Ago 2010-11-24 22:59:57.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist My favorite picture from five years ago Time to get a little sentimental. Five years ago on this very day, I made my first ascent to the summit of Mount Washington, by snow tractor. The occasion? I was coming up with the Observatory crew for shift change so that I could be interviewed as an intern candidate for the winter 2006 internship. I had hiked up (most of) Mount Washington only one other time that previous May for a three-day, two-night stay at Hermit Lake to ski Tuckerman Ravine

NULL 2010-11-23 14:36:35.000 - Kristin Raisanen,  Summit Intern The tower once again mostly snow and ice free On the ride up last week, we were all discussing our thanksgiving plans. This Thanksgiving is especially exciting for the observers on this shift, Steve, Stacey and Mike. For the last two Thanksgivings and Christmases (or three for Steve), our observers were on top of the Northeast keeping an eye on the weather and keeping the summit running while everyone else ate turkey with their families and opened presents on Christmas morning. This past April, the two shifts preformed a shift swap, which

NULL 2010-11-22 15:54:41.000 - Marty,  Summit Cat Meowww hello my adoring fans! It is I, Marty, your favorite summit cat, back to tell you about my fabulous life here on my mountain. Now that winter is finally upon us, there have been far less people around the summit. This has been the purr-fect opportunity for me to roam about the building and do as I please without having to worry about the paparazzi following me around. There is one creature that remains, however, and that is the terrible blue and white monster that lives downstairs in the living room. I

Brocken spectre and glory 2010-11-21 16:17:13.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Morning Glory After days of seeing nothing outside but freezing fog we were finally greeted to a wonderful sunrise soon followed by a great Brocken spectre and glory - one of the best I've seen up here. By the time I got outside with the camera it was wearing off but in the accompanying photo you can still make out the glory around the mountain's shadow. So a Brocken spectre is really just a shadow, in this case of the mountain peak, being cast on the clouds below. The

Raven 2010-11-20 22:39:36.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL As one of the educational observers, I feel I haven't provided enough education lately. Since the fog has allowed little in the way of optical phenomena, and Mike and Ryan have spoken about the weather (big surprise), I decided to turn my attention one of the species we encounter often on the summit of Mount Washington. During on of my distance learning presentations, a student asked me what a raven was.I was somewhat flabbergasted. I had seen ravens on many occasions; I know how the soar, glide, and swoop, but

Calmer Days 2010-11-19 23:23:00.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist NULL Well, hello. It's been a while since I've talked to y'all! Let's say...24 hours?My comments today won't be as lengthy or thrilling as yesterday's, because the weather has calmed down and cooled off quite a bit. At this moment, visibility is about 115 miles, with the distant lights of Portland, Portsmouth, St. Johnsbury, North Conway, and Berlin all clearly visible underneath a nearly-full moonlit sky.The moonlight shimmering off the newly-whitened surfaces on the summit adds a nice effect! The snowcaps of nearby mountain peaks such as Lafayette, Moosilauke, Wildcat, and