Sunrise and virga. 2009-05-23 17:07:37.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Ooh, piece of (eye) candy. There are times when writing a comment takes a bit of thought especially during days there really isn't anything that I find interesting to write about. Being the night observer, my world usually consists of darkness and fog and one can only write about darkness and fog so many times before it begins to all sound the same. So, I look at the notepad of ideas I have in my email account and try hopefully to find something that inspires me to construct something of

Taking a break from work 2009-05-22 15:36:47.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Looking up Airplane Gully. Still plenty of snow! One of the many things that I have always loved about working on the summit of Mount Washington as a weather observer is having the opportunity to go outside on a regular basis. Obviously as a minimum, one of us goes outside once an hour to take the weather observation, but there are other reasons to go outside: taking down or repairing instruments, maintaining research equipment, and getting the precipitation can just to name a few. This is also

Recipe for Summit Internship Success 2009-05-21 20:54:27.000 - Ali Boris,  Summit Intern Summit view from today There are many things that I've learned while here in the Mount Washington Valley and on the mountain, including but certainly not limited to how to appreciate northeastern cuisine. With a proud Irishman who is also a proud resident of Vermont on staff as well as many volunteers who necessarily love the culinary arts, I've tried a smorgasbord of new foods. Among the highlights are real maple syrup, moose sausage, Scott Sauce (ask Mike about hot and spreadable things), lamb with mint jelly, real

Volunteer 2009-05-20 04:32:53.000 - Joe Kayan,  Summit Volunteer Lenticular Cloud on Tuesday Evening Well, tonight came all too quickly-my last night here as a volunteer at the top of New England. It's been quite a week. I arrived seven days ago into a wintry scene, rime ice pluming from cairns and summit buildings and footpaths made treacherous with frozen pools. During the week, I got to watch spring turn ice into running water...heard it gurgle gently amongst the rock and watch it flow, mostly silent, through the alpine garden. I listened it roar over the headwall into Tuckerman's. I was

Summer days on the summit 2009-05-19 06:16:31.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist A summer sunset (from last shift week) As you well know, after reading Mike's comment, the Sherman Adams building is now open for business! I personally really enjoy the summer months on the summit. It's fun and exciting to see all the people milling about, I enjoy giving tours to our members and other groups, and the weather is generally a lot more forgiving (aka above freezing and a bit less windy). That's not to say the weather isn't to be feared, because with summer comes a

Opening Day 2009-05-18 04:58:19.000 - Mike Carmon,  Observer and Meteorologist The First of Many So now for a follow-up to my comment of a few days ago...The summit and auto road are officially open! Despite some winds that were a bit stronger than expected, and some intermittent fog that rolled in a little bit earlier than we anticipated, we had many visitors on the summit for the first day of the season on Saturday. In fact, later in the afternoon, rain moved in, giving any remaining visitors a refreshing shower, Mt. Washington style (which on this particular day consisted of

Ryan Buckley visits mount washington 2009-05-16 07:45:04.000 - Ryan Buckley,  Former Intern Humor and entertainment take on a whole new meaning when it comes to the summit. The long strands of inside jokes between co-workers become so mangled, knotted, and intertwined that almost every word that is said can be referenced back and a joke can be formulated creating immense laughter, sometimes uncontrollable. This ability comes with an 8 day long shift spent with the same people cooped up inside with no outside influences to speak of. After not being part of a shift for quite some time a good

Transition 2009-05-14 05:38:00.000 - Mike Carmon,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL Transition is the word! For one thing, we are watching the landscape outside of our office window transform from a white icy/snowy dessert into a land of rocks and sedge. Instead of the sounds of snow and ice falling from the sky, I'm hearing residual ice falling off the tower as it melts due to temperatures that are more and more consistently above freezing. And instead of forecasting wind chills and snowfall amounts, I'm mentioning rain and thunderstorms during forecast discussions. Not only is the weather transitioning from winter to

A Week Volunteering 2009-05-12 18:30:06.000 - Althea Goundrey,  Summit Volunteer A Beautiful Sunset Today, while at the summit of Mt. Clay, was the first day that I was in a sun snow shower. It was just one more type of weather condition to add to the past seven days worth of a variety of conditions. With these, a fine shift crew, and my seasoned partner, Paul, I have enjoyed my first volunteer shift at the MWO.We have had at least 3 days with good views. Saturday started as a relatively calm, sunny day that was just right for Paul to

No really - it's May. 2009-05-11 18:44:47.000 - Ali Boris,  Summit Intern Looking west at the mixing layer above the summit No really - it's May.We awoke yesterday morning to a wintry scene rather than the sedgey, golden mountaintop of the night before. I finally experience a thunderstorm up here on Saturday night, though! Friday night, Mike and I took a hike which ended at Nelson Crag in time to watch a big cumulonimbus with real lightning potential roll by, but the big event came as Ryan predicted the following night. The observers claimed that the storm was only a