NULL 2009-12-15 08:39:56.000 - Mary Ellen Dunn,  Summit Intern NULL My final shift as summit intern is almost through and the fact that I won't be back up here next week still hasn't sunk in yet. I can't believe how fast this whole experience went by! Living on the summit of Mount Washington certainly exposed me to all the beauty of the White Mountains from an amazing vantage point. Being able to witness first hand some of the extreme this mountain has to offer was definitely an experience. From the calm, beautiful 130 mile visibility days, to days with thick

NULL 2009-12-13 13:55:45.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist forget sugarplums and give us lenticulars! Something amazing happened today! We saw the Sun! Well, first we were able to see the stars and the moon, since the summit cleared during the early morning hours. Then, over the southeastern horizon, a big, fat, red blob slowly ascended into view. It took a few seconds for us to figure out what it could possibly be. For the first time since early Wednesday morning (before our shift arrived) the fog disappeared, opening our proverbial eyes to a winter wonderland, not only atop the

Oh the Pitot 2009-12-12 05:30:15.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist Ice Clogs Abound! All jobs have their challenges. Working at the home of the world's worst weather certainly presents some unique obstacles in daily operations.Ice is one of those challenges that has kept me pretty busy all night. And I'm not talking about the hourly de-icing of our instruments atop the tower. On this night, I speak of ice within the guts of our instruments, namely the pitot-static anemometer.Temperatures tonight have hovered around -10 degrees, and winds are regularly gusting near 100 mph. These bitterly cold conditions cause ice to

NULL 2009-12-11 12:42:57.000 - Mary Ellen Dunn,  Summit Intern A Frozen Tower! Brrrrr! As I am writing this, temperatures are 5 degrees below zero and winds are blowing strong around 80 mph creating a wind chill of about -45 degrees. The best part is that it seems it will get even colder and windier here on the summit over the next 24 hours or so. A strong pressure gradient over the region is expected to increase winds this evening, gusting near the century mark, and continue to usher in frigid below zero temperatures. Along with the arrival of these cold

NULL 2009-12-09 22:57:39.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL When I was in ninth grade, one of our English assignments was to write an adventure. The assignment was inspired by reading Odysseus, by Homer. Well, I made up some lame story about having to pay for the beach. At that point in my life, I hadn't really experienced any real adventures. Obstacles, danger, setbacks, and triumph upon completion are the ingredients for an adventure or an Odyssey. Every shift change can be considered an adventure. However, today's shift change was especially reminiscent of Odysseus's long trek back home after

A look at mile-high life 2009-12-08 23:43:58.000 - Marty Basch and Jan Duprey,  Summit Volunteers NULL We are volunteer rockpile rookies, on the tail end of a whirlwind week on thesummit. From circumnavigating the observation deck seven times in 84 mile per hourwinds to organizing and taking inventory of the freezers, we are having a first-handlook at mile-high life.It's not too shabby.We are a couple, a team, which basically boils down to this: Jan cooks, Martyfetches. That would be Marty the person, not Marty the cat. It really isn't all thatconfusing. Neither Brian Clark, Mike Finnegan or Will Tourtellot really

Winter is here to stay! 2009-12-07 23:17:27.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Back in October, it seemed like winter was getting an early start. On October 13 and 14 we measured a total of 8.3 inches of snow. The crew that tried to come up the mountain on the 14th for shift change discovered drifts several feet deep on the Auto Road, forcing us to use the Cog Railway for transportation. By the end of October, that phantom start to winter seemed so far in the past. November proved to be an extremely warm month (see my comment

Learning Russian and Toolin' 'round 2009-12-06 19:36:17.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Toolin' 'round! The weather certainly has taken a turn towards winter in the past two weeks. Last week started with the highest wind seen this year at 137 mph and now nearing the end of the first week of December, temperatures have dropped to the single digits with winds approaching 80 mph. It seems that winter has finally arrived and with any luck is here to stay. As Brian mentioned in a previous comment, our 12-12 schedule allows us both time to get outside while the sun is

Looking back at November 2009-12-05 10:40:06.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Things have been a little 'off' this shift. For starters, Marty the cat hasn't been around because he went down the mountain on Wednesday to go see the vet. Luckily it's nothing too serious; he has been scratching and licking his back excessively and this has caused it to become a bit raw. He has been staying with the other shift's intern, Mary Ellen, and will be returning to the summit today. Also, Ryan, who usually works the overnight shift of observations, is on vacation this shift.

Snow, Snow, Snow! 2009-12-03 20:03:44.000 - Will Tourtellot,  Summit Intern Summit Buildings At Dusk Yesterday was shift change and with my time here on the summit drawing to an end I couldn't have been more excited about getting back on the mountain. My excitement was due to several different things, but chief among them was the possibility of a snow tractor ride! As we were loading the van and chaining tires there was a bit of chatter about the snow tractor. So, as any snow-tractor-ride-desiring person, I thought that we would SURELY pile into the snow tractor at the half-way