NULL 2010-11-18 23:31:21.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist Wind! As a fleeting resident of this planet, one always wishes to experience as much as is humanly possible before time expires.As a meteorologist, there are certain experiences that would be particularly memorable, but if you aren't lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, they might just be forgone.When I joined the staff on the summit, I was expecting a surfeit of new experiences. There are the obvious trials and tribulations of entering the working world and holding down a job while supporting oneself. There is the

First, biggest, most. 2010-11-17 15:56:07.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist NULL "I wish I could stay longer but..." We have all muttered these words at some point in our lives replacing "..." with some sort of reason as to why we couldn't stick around. As a kid, it might be "I wish I could stay longer but...my mom says it's dinner time." As a teen, it might be "I wish I could stay longer but...it's past my curfew." As a college student, you may have muttered "I wish I could stay longer but...I have a term paper worth 25 percent

Mammatus clouds 2010-11-16 20:32:24.000 - Erica Sandschulte,  Summit Intern Mammatus clouds MAMMATUS clouds. The last time I witnessed mammatus clouds was the September of my senior year of college in Arizona; it was towards the end of Monsoon season. I remember it clearly, I was outside warming up for soccer practice, in the distance dark cumulonimbus clouds rolled in from the east over the northern part of Mogollon Rim. Several large opaque like lobes covered the sky, the clouds had a green tint, and were moving in quickly. Seeing these uncommon clouds I knew it would be the onset of

A Mountain of Beauty 2010-11-15 16:39:59.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer A Spectacular Sunrise It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is the case, then this comment is going to be just over 16,000 words long. The funny thing about that is that it will still be shorter than one of Knapper's comments (I fully expect to hear a dramatic sigh when he reads this). Between last night's sunset and this morning's sunrise, there is little to say besides stating the fact I feel very fortunate to be able to experience things such

Un-bad weather 2010-11-14 23:37:38.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist It's a pretty well known fact that Mount Washington is famous for how bad the weather can be. Typically that's what we end up talking about a lot in the Observer Comments and to be honest, that's why this organization exists. However, occasionally the highlights come from how remarkably un-bad the weather is (yes, I know that's not a real word).Since I'm a 'numbers guy', let's look at some stats for the weather since my shift's arrival last Wednesday morning.Fog cleared off the mountain at 3:35 a.m. on Wednesday, so

Wonderful Working Weather 2010-11-13 15:49:41.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Glaze Ice at Sunset What a last couple of days we have had here on the summit. Clouds have been few, winds have been low, and visibility has been endless. This gave me and Pete the opportunity yesterday to hike down to Lakes of the Clouds and finally fix the instrumentation down there. The hike down required the use of basic traction devices - not full on crampons, but something more akin to Stabilicers. The glaze ice remaining on the mountain from Tuesday's storm sounded like shattering glass as we

Work around the summit 2010-11-12 20:42:13.000 - Erica Sandschulte,  Summit Intern Northern Presidentials One great thing about this job is that there is always something new to do and learn. For example: Ken, Brian and I had to assemble a pipe long enough that would create a cast for the cables to run from the inner tower to about 40 feet out onto the deck in preparation for an upcoming project. Although the details of the project are still underway, the primary efforts were able to be accomplished this afternoon before another onset of weather conditions below freezing. It was

Good news, bad news 2010-11-11 17:35:11.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist I think I jinxed us.Last shift, I wrote a comment about how a cold, snowy October does not necessarily indicate a cold and snowy winter is forthcoming, or even a cold and snowy November for that matter! I gave November 2006 as an example, when the average temperature for the month was more than 9 degrees above average. Now here we are, on the 11th of November, with very little snow cover out there. Temperatures soaring into the low 40's tomorrow and remaining above freezing, for the most

Icy shift change 2010-11-10 23:44:28.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist An icy ride up. Another Wednesday, another shift change for the summit crews. And like the past few shift changes, my shift returns to an altered summit view. Heading down October twentieth, there was an average of 6 inches of snow, ice and rime on the ground but upon returning on the twenty-seventh, it looked and felt more like June than it did late October as warm rain diminished the snow pack to nearly zero. Over our last shift we had once again built our snow base back up to

Ice 2010-11-09 15:10:16.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer NULL Ice, ice everywhere.After two days of freezing rain, drizzle and fog, plus ice pellets thrown in for good measure, everything outside is coated in glaze ice. This goes for the building, antennas, weather instruments and even the observers and interns if they stay out for more than a few minutes at a time. Slowly but surely we have been losing contact with our remote weather sites as their antennas and solar panels get coated in ice. There's nothing quite like glaze ice for reducing radio power and the thick undercast over