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

Volunteer notes 2010-09-29 21:25:11.000 - Brad Bradstreet and Charlie Hawkins,  Summit Volunteers Stage Office around sunset Our volunteer week is coming to a close. Wednesday is Shift Change Day. The other crew of Observers and Interns will ride up to the summit in the morning - we will have a set of joint change-over meetings - then we will head down in the afternoon leaving the other crew to stay for their eight day shift. This has been a fantastic week being here on the summit with the crew. Charlie and I thought we understood the Observatory and what it

NULL 2010-09-28 16:58:07.000 - Kristin Raisanen,  Summit Museum Attendant Oh windows!! How I have missed you!! During my last few weeks in the summit museum and shop, I have realized a couple things, the most important being the realization that I love windows. Such a simple thing, I know, but they are now very important to me. Here on the summit, there are some days when you don't get to go outside for an extended period of time. Sometimes the weather isn't great, or you are simply too busy and only get to go outside for observations. I don't mind

NULL 2010-09-27 18:39:40.000 - Jennifer Finn,  Summit Intern NULL Since the theme of this week seems to be about the anticipation of wintery, 'bad' weather and the changing of seasons, I'm going to stick with that. Though the weather hasn't been too exhilarating, it has been a very exciting forecasting week (for me anyways). The models over the past few days have shown a more winter-like upper air pattern that will prevail for much of the week. Though temperatures aren't nearly cold enough for snow, it's reassuring to know that the exciting weather is not too far off. So what

NULL 2010-09-26 16:38:14.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist where's the wind? The weather hasn't been anything to write home about, being stuck in the fog for the entire day and temperatures hovering in the upper thirties. Observations take all of thirty seconds and its not even windy outside - overall a boring weather day. With the occasional snow and ice already visiting the summit, it's that time of year when we start to prepare for the winter season. Today, with the light winds, was a perfect day to take out the summer screens and put in the winter windows.Our

brad's comment 2010-09-25 23:12:00.000 - Brad Bradstreet,  Summit Volunteer Let me start at the beginning, I climbed Mt Washington for the first timewhen I was 13 years old. The old hotel was at the summit with huge chainsacross the roof and bolted to the rocks to hold the building down in highwinds. Oh, that made a big impression on me and I have been coming back eversince. At this point, I have hiked to the summit over 50 times and each timeis like the first no matter what the weather happened to be.Over time I fell in love with all

weather shifts 2010-09-24 23:09:25.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist NULL Good weather shift vs. Bad weather shift!The battle continues...It's a timeless struggle between the two factions of individuals that call this mountain home on opposing weeks.On one side of the fence, there lies the good weather shift. Sunnier days, less fog, and calmer winds generally characterize a better part of this group's time on the rockpile. To them, the moniker 'home of the world's worst weather' seems more in line with a misnomer, as they ponder, 'when, oh when, will we experience the wild winter weather with which this mountain

NULL 2010-09-23 16:14:28.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist totally worth 430 am! Happy Fall Everyone! With crisp cool nights, and sunny Indian summer days, autumn has arrived in style. The hottest colors this fall: orange, yellow, and red! Fall is, by far, my favorite season. In addition to Mother Nature's fashion show, apples and pumpkins are in season, and mouthwatering smells of leaves and baking apple and pumpkin pies permeate the air. Halloween is fun too. Yesterday was the first full day of fall, and to celebrate we had shift change! It was a rather eventful morning. As a

NULL 2010-09-22 16:34:10.000 - Dick Pollock and Ellin Leonard,  Summit Volunteers NULL The day our volunteer shift started we proceeded up the Auto Rd in the Observatory van with the knowledge that at some point we would probably meet icy conditions and have to 'chain up' in order to make the last leg of the trip safely. At a little over six miles we began to see the first snow of the season and we slowed to evaluate road conditions. Our driver, Ken Rancourt, who has driven the road for many years in all conditions, sensed the need to stop

Cap Cloud 2010-09-21 17:51:25.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Cap Cloud We are about as close to being in the fog as we can be here on the summit without actually going into it. The phenomenon we are currently experiencing is referred to as a cap cloud. It is a form of wave cloud, related to lenticulars, those clouds often mistaken for UFOs. In the case of the cap cloud, it forms as moist air is push up and over the mountain. Given the right conditions, this air condenses into a cloud below the mountain's summit. However, the orographic movement