NULL 2009-10-19 12:08:33.000 - Don Hayes,  Summit Volunteer Maiden Voyage! I have been the OBS volunteer for the week and can't believe it will be over on Wednesday... This is my second stint on the rock pile; the last ten years ago.I grew up hiking Washington as a teenager with my family and have probably hiked it at least a dozen times with friends, my wife and kids and in recent years my grandchildren. I have been a member of MWOBS for at least fifteen years.I have been fortunate to have hiked the Grand Tetons at 11,000 feet, North Cascades

Wind Chill 2009-10-17 21:21:28.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist NULL When someone asks me what it's like on the summit, I have a go-to phrase that works about 90% of the time-'cold and windy.'I generally use this phrase in a tongue-in-cheek manner for a humorous effect. All kidding aside however, those terms are relative, but I think most of those who have visited the summit, especially in the winter, would agree that assessment is more than fair.We are a weather observatory, but in addition to observing the weather, we attempt to predict it. Unfortunately, there are many individuals hiking above

Stove 2009-10-16 15:49:10.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer New Stove Our new stove, resplendent in its protective wrapping, is here and waiting to be installed - if everything goes to plan it will be hooked up early next week. The old stove, which has certainly seen better days, still works well but is now showing its age - the door has to be held shut with a piece of wire and the temperature will either run hot or cold but never quite at the requested setting. Although it will be sad to see the old work horse leave we are

NULL 2009-10-15 13:54:01.000 - Mary Ellen Dunn,  Summit Intern NULL Yesterday, Stacey spoke about our adventurous shift change to the summit. This reminds us that the beginning of the winter season is upon us here on the summit and even more preparations must be completed. This morning, Stacey, Steve, and I took on the task of changing the tire chains for the Observatory's truck and van. We took off the old worn out chains and reattached new ones. It was labor intensive however; we all know how important good chains are. The weather is changing fast here on Mount Washington

NULL 2009-10-14 16:27:01.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist Ken Rancourt always says a boring shift change is a good shift change. I usually agree, though today I would beg to differ. We have just experienced one of the most interesting shift-change, EVER. Now, in the past, comments about shift change have been uninteresting, uninspired, and often plain old lame (yup, I've even written a few of those). I hope to rectify that with the telling of today's adventures. The day began normally enough: everyone putting on snow pants, gloves, and making sure that they would be warm enough once

A Volunteer's Week 2009-10-13 14:33:46.000 - Jim Hilt,  Summit Volunteer No, volunteers don't have any weather duties but this is an opportunity to see how the weather is recorded. For example the wind speed instrument used here is the only one on land. It is a pitot tube that measures wind speed by pointing directly into the wind. As this tube (it is heated) leads to a manometer (tube filled with water), a pressure can be measured and converted to wind speed. Normally a pitot tube is used in planes, but it has been shown that it is more effective

Here comes the snow! 2009-10-12 16:39:01.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist The proverbial calm before the storm So far this month, as of yesterday, we have recorded 3.7 inches of snow on the summit. The maximum that has been measured in one day has been 1.1 inches on the 1st. Both of those numbers are going to change tomorrow.The first significant snowfall of the season is at hand. A low pressure system that has been dropping a few inches of snow on the Western Great Lakes region all day today, will continue to track east, through the Ohio River

Transition Season Reminders 2009-10-11 16:55:39.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Any kind of change can be difficult to deal with, especially the kind of change that comes in transition seasons. A lot has been written here in the Observer Comments over the last couple of weeks about the transition season and subsequent changes we have been experiencing here on the summit. Some of these changes are obvious. The summit staff has traded vests for down jackets and gloves as temperatures have dropped. The storm windows have been installed to protect the inner windows from snow and ice. Other

Ice...Lots of Ice 2009-10-10 13:14:58.000 - Will Tourtellot,  Summit Intern Upper Ammonoosuc Falls ** Quick Update*** - We reacquired our link to the valley so the website is up to date with the current summit conditions, forecast etc. Sorry for the hiccup!*I intended to post this comment yesterday, but because of the loss of the link to the valley, I couldn't post it until today.Summer seems to have finally lost it's grip on the the summit and as winter approaches the summit has been pelted with rime ice, snow, sleet, freezing rain, ice pellets and all manner of frigid precipitation.

Murphy's Law Takes Effect 2009-10-10 10:37:48.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, usually at the worst possible time. I don't know Murphy. Maybe he's a really nice guy, but right at this moment I sure don't like his law very much. Mike Finnegan, our trusty IT Observer, left the summit yesterday to take a couple vacation days to go to a wedding. A few hours after he left, the microwave radio link from the summit to our Weather Discovery Center in North Conway went down. This is how we get our