Sunrise and Halos 2009-10-23 21:10:41.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer "Good Morning, Sun!" This morning I awoke to something I haven't seen in quite a while up here - a sunrise. It is finally that time of year when both the sun and myself look out over the Presidentials at the same time without me having to wake up earlier than normal. The other upshot to this is the immediate alertness it brings. Rolling out of bed and stepping into a world of just-below-freezing temperatures and 30 mph winds will wake you up pretty quick, but it is also enjoyable.

Snow jealousy 2009-10-22 16:58:49.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist The white is quickly disapearing! Last week, the first significant snowstorm of the season hit the summit with 8.5 inches measured from late in the day on the 12th through the 14th. Coincidentally, my hometown of State College, PA saw their first snowfall of the year last week as well. From the 15th through the 17th, 4.9 inches of snow was measured at University Park Airport, about 10 miles outside of the city. Almost a foot of snow was reported on the ridge tops around State College which range from

NULL 2009-10-21 05:59:15.000 - Deb Mastro,  Summit Museum Attendant My second home Times flies and once again it's my last shift of the season working and living on the summit of Mt Washington. Winter conditions have arrived on the summit and my job as museum attendant is over for the year.I will surely miss my 'mountain family'. I know I will keep in touch with them, but that's quite different from being with them on a regular basis. The Mount Washington Observatory 'crews' spend seven nights and seven and a half days together every other week in the mountain top

Power Outage 2009-10-20 11:19:49.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer NULL New power cables are going to be run to the various summit buildings starting Tuesday afternoon. This will entail a complete power shutdown of the Sherman Admas building for several hours. During this process the observatory will be on battery backup power and only essential equipment will be left running. This will result in some loss of live weather information, web cam images and the like to the website. Thanks for your patience while this essential maintenance work is performed.   Steve Welsh,  IT Observer

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