NULL 2010-12-20 15:43:38.000 - Kristin Raisanen,  Summit Intern A snowier view than when my internship started The Christmas festivities that Stacey and Mike spoke of earlier this week continued yesterday! Jen and I attempted to spread the Christmas cheer in the weather room with an old favorite, the construction paper chain. Last night, Charlie and Jeanine treated us to our own little holiday party filled with bacon wrapped scallops, red pepper jelly, spinach and artichoke dip, Swedish meatballs and a Christmas tree shaped cake with our own individual cake presents. Everything was delicious and it definitely felt like a Christmas

NULL 2010-12-19 23:36:36.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Two weeks ago, Kristin wrote about Sundays being sunny. Once again, Sunday lives up to its name! After the Steve's first observation, he started telling me how beautiful it was outside. I immediately dressed for outside and went to check it out for myself.I was not disappointed! Cool, crisp air of 6 degrees, nearly calm winds, and an undercast set the tone for my star-gazing experience. The undercast blocked a lot of the light pollution from the surrounding valleys and, like people who are obsessed with the weather, I looked

NULL 2010-12-18 23:15:50.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist A Festive Obs With Christmas fast approaching, the mood on the summit has taken a much more festive tone. Our living quarters have been decorated with stockings, trimmings, lights, and even a pint-sized Christmas Tree with a tiny Santa to match (atop the TV). Our volunteers this week, Charlie and Jeanine, have provided us with a steady stream of sweet treats, which have kept all of our moods at a sugary high.The weather outside is not quite frightful, however, as winds have been nothing short of feeble for the first half of

NULL 2010-12-17 23:14:58.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL This week we have Charlie and Janine Kinney - long time veteran volunteers - on the rock pile with us. I had been preparing mentally for some time. I know their cooking style: decadent, delicious, and bountiful. Already we've been treated to fudge, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, pumpkin pie and cinnamon buns. Dinners have been just as good - delicious and nutritious. In addition to feeding us into new dress sizes, they have also decked the halls, so to say, of the living room, making it much more

Volunteer Blurb 2010-12-16 16:26:42.000 - Sue And Mike Zlogar,  Summit Volunteers Undercast Another week finishes on the summit for Mike and me; as always Brian, Ryan, Mike and soon to be returning to Seattle the summit's awesome intern Erica, were fabulous crew mates to serve with on the Good Ship Rockpile. We were also blessed to have with us for the second half of the shift Mike Conroy who was happy to employ Mike Zlogar to help put up the ceiling tiles in the crew living spaces. Due to the confined nature of the deck below, the atmosphere remained fairly

NULL 2010-12-15 16:35:01.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist Land Ho! Winter shift changes are almost always more eventful than summer ones. True, there are no tourist vehicles on the road. But the dangers of snow, wind, freezing fog, and mechanical failures are much more daunting than a novice Auto Road traveler.Today was the inaugural trip of our Snow Tractor for the Winter 2010-2011 season. This is personally my third winter working here, and it is the latest I've had to wait to take the premiere trek up the road in our Snow (not-technically-a-)Cat. But weather conditions on Wednesdays have been

Fall Internship 2010-12-14 22:20:35.000 - Erica Sandschulte,  Summit Intern Snow Angel on Mount Washington While the rest of the valley had overcast skies, the summits were in the clear, who would have known! We concluded our work week with a fantastic sunset followed by a spectacular view of the Geminid meteor shower. This will be my last comment as an intern. Yep, you guessed it, I'm going to get a little wordy and mushy. Although this experience will be a great start to my future as a meteorologist, it is still heartbreaking knowing that it has come to an end

Changing attitudes with changing seasons 2010-12-13 17:44:36.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL The weather on the summit over the last couple of days has gotten me thinking about how it's funny (not so much in a 'haha' sort of way) the way my attitude towards the weather changes along with the seasons. Although I pay a good deal of attention to the weather and current weather patterns year-round, during the non-skiing months (known as summer, and part of each shoulder season to most folks) I don't watch the long range nearly as much as I do during the

Marty 2010-12-12 17:09:32.000 - Marty,  Summit Cat NULL Yes, finally I have the purrr-fect opportunity to get in a few words before the holidays are in full swing. Everyone here on the summit has been busy hard at work, but I, Marty, always manage to push my way in to grab attention from the crew up here. No better way to let them know I wanted to paw in a comment by running across the keyboard as Erica and Mike typed away at their work yesterday. This past weekend the crew started hanging lovely Christmas wreaths that were graciously donated

Firsts 2010-12-11 21:48:46.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer NULL This week has been filled with a number of firsts, however disjointed they may be. Erica brewed espresso cold at home and brought it to the mountain for the week. It has been staring at me in the fridge for the week, but not being a huge coffee drinker (or even coffees of regular size), I've let it be. Mentioning I was thirsty, she suggested she make me a cold brew latte. I thought this a good idea, but wondered what it was. Some cold brew, a few ice cubes, and