No need for record breaking 2009-04-13 17:57:10.000 - Ali Boris,  Summit Intern Blue meets green with a splash of white The big anniversary of our 231 mph wind gust has come and gone with no sign of breaking the record. Despite my disappointment in not experiencing a 232 mph wind, I'm honored to have been here for the historic day. Our volunteers, Sarah and Bill Young, made us a delicious cake last night, adorned with the numbers two, three, and one (I can hear Mike imitating the Count from Sesame Street as I type). Aside from gusts up to 86

Two Reasons to Celebrate 2009-04-12 11:13:00.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Our Easter Candy Today is a special day for two reasons. The first reason is the obvious one: it's Easter Sunday. Although those of us on the summit this week can't celebrate in some of the traditional ways, like spending time with family or going to church (if we had a sunrise service here on the summit, it would have been a darn cold one today), we find other ways to celebrate. For instance, last night we colored eggs and today we will be having an (indoor) Easter

A Pleasant Day 2009-04-10 12:28:07.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Sun Pillar Sunset The weather on the summit yesterday proved to be quite nice. I can only speak from experience as to the latter 12 hours of the day, but it sounds like the morning was beautiful as well. The reason for the afternoon experiences was due to a change in our daily schedule here on the Rockpile. Ryan, the typical night observer, is on vacation this week so Brian and I have elected to work a bit of a different shift - Brian the AM hours and myself the

Lisa's comment 2009-04-07 14:38:39.000 - Lisa Zatko,  Summit Volunteer NULL The changing seasons affect the observatory in a few ways. Weather, of course, comes to mind first, when spring rains wash away the summits snow to be replaced with ice. This week's weather proved that spring is here, but winter-like conditions still persist, not willing to relinquish its presence on the summit. Another change that has happened is the end of the winter edu-trips. We had two groups here this week, one of which was my co-volunteers son's Boy Scout troop. They completed their merit badge for weather and also

NULL 2009-04-06 08:21:38.000 - Kathy Bennet,  Marketing Director, Cranmore Mountain Cranmore Summits Mount WashingtonThe Cranmore Crew took over the Mount Washington Observatory living quarters for the last two days. 7 of us met at the base of the Auto Road yesterday, greeted by the Obs' Cara Rudio who escorted us up the mountain in a specially-outfitted Bombardier snowcat groomer, thanks to Gus.Those of you who have enjoyed the Auto Road in summer cannot properly appreciate the excitement that a winter drive affords. For one thing, you don't have your hands glued to your car's steering wheel, so you can actually

Battle of the seasons 2009-04-05 10:03:22.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer NULL So April has arrived and the weather is starting to transition. Over the past few days the seasons have been battling for control of the summits. We have seen snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain, felt strong winds and almost flat calm, and of course there's been lots and lots of fog. The mercury has been right up into the 40s and back down into the teens.On Friday we received nearly two-thirds of an inch of rain. This coupled with two days of above freezing temperatures and dense

Mystery 2009-04-04 02:33:45.000 - Mike Carmon,  Observer NULL Instead of steering the topic of conversation away from bogus gender-bending felines, story-telling senior executive interns, and fictitious studies done by mysterious professors with names strikingly similar to current observers, I'm going to keep the string of peculiar comments alive. If you're not a close follower of the weather conditions, you may not be aware that yesterday, temperatures topped out around 40 degrees, well above normal for this time of year. It rained for the majority of the day, with a bit of freezing rain earlier in the day. The combined effects

Balderdash! 2009-04-02 08:09:29.000 - Marty,  Summit MALE Cat Angry Green-Eyed Marty So, after a hilarious April Fool's joke, WOKQ will be hosting the Observatory's executive director, Scot Henley, and the Conway Humane Society's Virginia Moore at 7:30 am. You can listen on your radio 103.7 or 97.5. You can also stream live from their website at WOKQ Live. It should be a hoot! This is Marty, the MALE cat, with some help from Stacey. I am not happy. I became aware of some interesting accusations while eating my salmon cookies. Allegedly, I had kittens. This is ridiculous! A total outrage!

Surprise 2009-04-01 16:15:56.000 - Jordan Scampoli,  Summit Intern Kittens! Recently Marty has been putting on some weight and been increasingly solitary. We thought it was possibly a food allergy. Turns out, Marty has surprised us all with a litter of six kittens. When the Obs got Marty from the Conway Human Society they said they thought he was a male aged about 20 months. After a bit of research I found a study by Welsh and Carmon (2002); renowned veterinarians Dr. Welsh and Professor Carmon found that over 49.64% of Maine Coons are incorrectly identified as being of the opposite

Springtime Hazards 2009-03-31 11:45:26.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Boott Spur in Spring This time of year for the mountain is one of much change. The temperature seems to have a difficult time making up its mind as to whether to be above or below freezing and the wind has his mood swings as well. Just two days ago we were pummeled with hours of freezing rain, laying a layer of glaze ice on everything. Eventually the temperature climbed above freezing and the precipitation turned from freezing rain to rain, making the summit an eight inch deep pool of slush.