"New" Thermo-Shack 2010-06-15 21:32:50.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Summit Intern Currently in use at the observatory is a thermo-shack that was installed about 15 years ago and has received numerous beatings from the harsh Mount Washington winter and numerous coats of paint. The "thermo-shack", for those of you who may not be familiar with it, is an outdoor protected housing for our minimum and maximum thermometers. In need of some serious repair I was called into action. We had acquired a second thermo-shack from the National Weather Service last year that was in need of some repair but overall in excellent

Bear! 2010-06-14 14:30:15.000 - Hanna Brewer,  Summit Intern Life on the summit isn't quite as hard as I expected it to be when I applied for this internship. Don't get me wrong, there is always a lot of work to be done while on the clock, but unfortunately most of this work involves sitting at my computer. The sedentary work day combined with the baked goods and feasts our volunteers prepare for us... Well let's just say I definitely won't be wasting away during my time here. In hopes of balancing out the meals we eat with some exercise, I've

Forecasting woes 2010-06-13 16:43:50.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL I went down the mountain yesterday in order to attend, and present at, the Observatory's Annual Meeting. This meeting gives an opportunity for our members to connect more intimately with the organization, and also for those members to connect with staff like myself, as well as our board of trustees. The event went off without a hitch (thanks Karen!) and a good time was had by all. If you missed out this year, be sure to watch for an announcement about the Annual Meeting around this time next year.

NULL 2010-06-12 22:29:47.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Sunset from Mt. Clay Mount Washington is an interesting place to forecast for. Well, this is what people tell me anyway. It's the only place I've ever forecasted for, not being a meteorologist. This works out a bit in my favor at times though because I have an out when what I forecast is wrong. I haven't written the forecast the last two days, but it has obviously been difficult to pin down accurately. Yesterday we were supposed to be in the clear. I awoke to a beautiful undercast which quickly lifted

Relaxing After Work Walk 2010-06-11 22:18:53.000 - Rebecca Scholand,  Summit Intern Alpine Flowers After feeling a bit cooped up over the past two days and in need of some fresh air, observer Mike, museum attendant Ryane, intern Hanna and I ventured out for a stroll in the fog. We headed down the Auto Road hoping to get a glimpse of the sun overhead. Approaching the 7 mile marker we were privileged enough to have the fog lift for just a few short minutes and expose a distant cloud bank before it quickly fogged back in shielding the sun once again.

Saffir-Simpson here, Fujita there. 2010-06-10 23:40:58.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist No winds or tornadoes here tonight. Working on the summit of Mount Washington, I have become accustomed to using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to categorize our winds, especially in the winter. On average in the winter, we see category 1 (74-95 mph) strength wind gusts every other day with one out of every four days seeing category 2 or higher winds (96+ mph). All of us working up here have seen and worked in 100 mph winds and all have our own high bar for highest experienced winds.

Volunteer coordinator 2010-06-09 21:24:32.000 - Peter and Susan Goodwin,  Summit Volunteers NULL Our week as volunteer cooks on the summit is over and it is time to go down to the flatlands. We arrived on a beautiful day and had a nice walk around the summit. The next day was in the fog so we stayed close to the building but then on Friday at noon (as predicted by the forecast), the skies cleared and we had a wonderful hike down to Lakes of the Clouds and up Monroe and back. The alpine flowers were wonderful and it was fun

Seek The Peak 2010-06-08 14:23:23.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer NULL This morning was like a flash back to winter. Just before seven I crawled out the tower door into sub-freezing temperatures to remove ice from the tower. It was quite a shock seeing thick freezing fog swirling around and glaze ice forming on everything it touched. The wind was blowing out of the northwest at 50 mph and the wind chill was down to 10 degrees - I was wondering if I had somehow slept for six months and woken up in December instead of June. Just to cap

NULL 2010-06-07 15:59:52.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist A world apart Some days I am overcome with a sense that it is an entirely different world up here. Today was one of those days, with thick, murky fog, gale-force winds, and temperature just below freezing. The webcams provided tantalizing views of blue skies and of a gorgeous, albeit slightly chilly, June morning. The valley reported that there was, indeed, one cloud in the sky - right on top of Mount Washington!Visitors to the summit were in for a rude awakening. The pleasant 60 - 70 degree, sunny weather in

NULL 2010-06-06 17:17:55.000 - Kristin Raisanen,  Summit Intern Radar image of storms over Northeast on 6/5/2010 As a lover of severe weather, I heard the three words I had been waiting for on Friday afternoon, 'Thunderstorms possible tomorrow.' Thunderstorms had hit my hometown on Thursday afternoon, but I missed the storm because I was here on the summit. With thunderstorms forecasted for Saturday, I knew I wasn't going to miss out on the fun this week!!Yesterday, with severe weather looming, Sabrina and I headed down to the museum shop to help out and give everyone their lunch breaks. Upon returning,