NULL 2010-10-09 17:47:11.000 - Kristin Raisanen,  Summit Museum Attendant The summit looking wintery! Most people use the three day Columbus Day weekend as a chance to enjoy autumn. Many people enjoy leaf peeping in the mountains, taking in a football or soccer game, spending a relaxing weekend raking leaves or carving pumpkins. Some people even take a trip up Mount Washington to get their first dose of winter and to take in the sights from the highest point in the Northeast, but not today, or really for the last 3 days. The summit has been in the fog since Wednesday,

NULL 2010-10-08 23:49:04.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist NULL I write to you this evening a somewhat disappointed young observer (the youngest, in fact. But I digress...). With all of this talk of good weather vs. bad weather shift, I was hoping our crew would get a major leg up yesterday in this epic struggle. Indeed we did, as we received nearly an inch (.8") of frozen precipitation (in the form of snow and ice pellets) and witnessed an impressive glaze icing event, accumulating nearly 3" per hour at times during the nighttime hours. And then, the winds ramped up,

NULL 2010-10-07 16:18:42.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist That's my kind of Hays Chart! The most notably consistent variable on this mountain is change. That may sound oxymoronic, but allow me to explain. The most obvious is that the weather is constantly changing from one minute to the next. It could be foggy and clear fifteen times within five minutes. It's something that all who are familiar with the mountain expect. It's a constant. The landscape is always changing; wind blows the snow around creating drifts and dunes, the snow accumulates and melts, the color go from brown to

NULL 2010-10-06 16:09:59.000 - Matt Stearns,  Summit Volunteer cap cloud descending during sunset Today, I will challenge your knowledge of the Observatory, and your concept of purpose.Perhaps you're thinking, 'Did Ryan stay up all night reading old philosophy textbooks instead of forecasting weather?' Well, friends, the simple answer is no; today is Wednesday, which means your beloved volunteer is authoring the Observer comment! So, please, allow me to explain:My latest experience here as a volunteer inspired me to reflect deeply about the educational outreach portion of the Observatory's Mission. Over the past week, I couldn't help but notice that here,

Fogbow! 2010-10-05 18:21:09.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Single fogbow!...What does it mean? This afternoon, Brian came in exclaiming that there was a pretty neat fogbow to the east. I have seen these before but like most things involved in weather, I am more than happy to see them again. So I grabbed my trusty camera and ran up to the observation deck. As soon as I popped out the door, there it was, a complete fogbow stretching over the northeast sky. Unable to see anything in my cameras tiny screen due to the bright sunlight, I just aimed in

"Leaning on the Shoulder" 2010-10-04 20:23:20.000 - Erica Sandschulte,  Summit Intern View of the Valley This past week the summit has gone from being in the fog for almost three days with occasional hurricane force winds to temperatures plummeting into the mid-20's, and concluding among clear skies with calm winds. On Saturday the summit awoke to blue skies and we could see the valley! I had almost forgot what it looked like being stuck in a cloud for so long, not that it's the worst thing that could happen, but wow the colors have made a significant change in the

Getting Prepared 2010-10-03 22:45:45.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Not what I forecasted, but I was still prepared. Every Wednesday prior to coming up for my shift, I check the long range models and numbers and decide what clothing I need to pack to get me through the upcoming week. In the heart of summer, my packing is pretty easy: boxers, t-shirts, a few shorts, a few pants, rain pants, rain jacket, summer fleece and hiking boots. If we do see cold weather during the summer, I have a supply of light winter gear on the summit already to get

A Day With Great Views 2010-10-02 23:00:26.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist My attempt at an artsy shot The first few days of this shift have been nothing short of a washout. Steady rain started falling at about 8 a.m. on Thursday, and didn't stop until about 10 p.m. on Friday. That's more than 36 hours of continuous rain with just over 4 inches being measured in our precipitation can. All that rain, fog, and generally wet weather made what happened today just that much more fulfilling.After some glaze icing during the overnight hours, fog started to break up

Ryane's Birthday! 2010-10-01 21:18:51.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Summit Sushi! Welcome to October! It was certainly a wet start to this new month as we have picked up 2.25 inches of rain so far today and we are only three-quarters of the way through it. Overall it has been a rather grey day as well, with only a few breaks from the fog to give a glimpse of an undercast, clouds at our level about 4 miles out, and an overcast just a couple hundred feet above our heads. Although this was cool, it was not nearly as cool

Challenges on Mount Washington 2010-09-30 22:35:16.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Water, water, everywhere While I was in the kitchen making lunch this afternoon, I had an interesting conversation with fellow observer Mike Finnegan and our volunteer for the week, Matt Stearns. Matt brought up a topic from our weekly Wednesday shift change meeting from the previous day, and mentioned that although probably mundane to us, he found the problems and challenges that we face while working in this setting very intriguing. My response was something along the lines of, 'They're interesting for us at first, but often they