Newton's Revenge Bicycle Race 2009-07-11 17:08:50.000 - Scott Wehrwein,  Summit Intern Newton's Revenge Today was Newton's Revenge, one of two annual bicycle races held on the Mount Washington Auto Road. I spent the morning outside watching the racers finish and marveling at their athletic ability. The course is a brutal one, a 7.6-mile road that twists, turns, and skirts nauseating cliffs as it climbs 4723 vertical feet to the 6288-foot summit. In the portion of the race I was watching—just when the end is in sight—the course turns onto the handicap access road, a short stretch of about 50 meters

NULL 2009-07-10 07:28:59.000 - Amy Terborg,  Summit Intern NULL On my off shift this past week I decided to fly back home for the Fourth of July. It was raining and cloudy as I drove to Manchester, and it was raining as my flight took off. When I got to Michigan it only rained the first day, but then it was warm and sunny for the rest of the time. It was quite a nice surprise to have this bright thing shining in my eyes and warming my skin. Then early Tuesday morning I returned to New Hamsphire and, what

Hump Day is here! 2009-07-08 04:29:48.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Tuesdays sunrise. In life, we all face little humps that we have to get up over to move on with life. With this comment, I will talk about some of the little humps I experience working up here. Why am I writing about my humps? Well, last week when my shift started, I learned what a 'hump day' was when I read the title of a facebook posting by the Mount Washington Auto Road. I hade no idea what it was referring to so after some google searches, I

Dennis Vienneau Comment 2009-07-07 16:38:40.000 - Dennis Vienneau,  Summit Volunteer Vivid Rainbow My week on the summit as the weather observatory's volunteer is quickly concluding. As noted by other comments posted this week, we've been plagued by persistent fog and lousy views. I had picked this week to volunteer, despite knowing that the summit is in the clouds 60% of the time, but I had my fingers crossed, hoping to view 4th of July fireworks in the valleys around Mt. Washington. There was no chance of that occurring on Saturday night; we were socked in with clouds and rain. On

Tuckerman Hike 2009-07-06 16:17:01.000 - Hedda Peterson,  Summit Intern Summer time at Tuckerman Ravine This week has been a busy one! Alex and I were assigned the dreaded task of cleaning out the bottom of the weather tower. This required moving all recycling bins and wooden platforms outside and using a shop-vacuum to remove about 3 inches of water. Since then we have given several tours and sorted numerous historic weather records. Yesterday evening we were able to catch a glimpse of a beautiful sunset, turning the mountains to the north bright red, as those behind us took on many

Convective Weather Week Comment 2009-07-05 16:10:48.000 - Alex Jacques,  Summit Intern Convective clouds forming over the mountains. This shift certainly has been more active weather-wise than my previous shift. The constant drizzle and light rain had morphed into heavier convective showers and thunderstorms.Although we have been in the fog for the majority of this past week, occasionally we were treated to a view of classic cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. The picture taken here was from Friday when we had a break in the fog. Later on that day, I experienced my first thunderstorm on the summit. Lightning did not strike

The end of ski season 2009-07-04 17:13:01.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist No snow left in Airplane Gully Happy Independance Day to everyone out there! Hopefully you are getting the weather you wanted for your planned activities. We certainly are not. It has been raining on and off all day with plenty of thick wet fog that will likely hang around long enough to prevent us from seeing any fireworks in the valley below tonight.Yesterday there was a bit of a mixup among summit staff as both Mike F. and myself ended up posting Observer Comments. Since Mike's was

Staying Inside 2009-07-03 16:57:34.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer "And we're back in the fog." This has been said quite a bit today, which in a way is a good sign. To be back in the fog is to imply there was a break from the fog. Besides that, there hasn't been a drop of precipitation today. At this point, a day with sunshine and no rain may as well be a success. In a few hours, this fog may light up with the approach of a band of lightning. Talking with Ryan today, he saw continuous lightning over Maine

End of the ski season 2009-07-03 16:18:03.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist No snow left in Airplane Gully This afternoon saw an unexpected break in the fog that has engulfed the summit for the majority of the past week. This, along with seasonable temperatures in the upper forties and relatively calm winds made for a good chance to get outside for a little bit.My short hike down to the Great Gulf Headwall had another purpose as well. I wanted to see if there was any snow left for some July skiing. Just slightly less than a month ago, Mike

Alpine Tundra 2009-07-02 16:38:11.000 - Hedda Peterson,  Summit Intern For some time now the view out of the observatory window has only revealed the surrounding lichen covered boulders. If we are lucky the fog will clear for seconds at a time, reassuring us that the landscape does in fact continue past the borders we have become so accustomed to. I thought I would take some time to refresh all of our memories as to what that landscape is...!When one imagines a tundra biome, their mind often takes them to places like Alaska's Arctic Tundra, or Greenland. Rarely do people consider