More media visit the summit 2009-01-31 03:31:29.000 - Cara Rudio,  Marketing and Communications Coordinator The producer and the sound guy Mt. Washington's weather is infamous.My boss hates it when I use that phrase (he says it "has a negative connotation"), but I think it's pretty accurate: Mt. Washington's weather is well-known, well-respected, and yes, a little notorious. So what does such a famously bad reputation bring? Media attention, of course. And lots of it.The particular media attention I'm writing about today started a few weeks ago with a phone call from LA-based Workaholic Productions. They said they were making a

Restoring the Link 2009-01-29 23:41:44.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Working to restore our link to the valley You may have noticed that for the better part of the day Wednesday and into the morning hours today, nothing was updating on the website. Well, if you have been following the observer comments for any extended period of time, you probably know that a lot of the "live" content on the website relies on a wireless, point to point microwave radio connection from the Observatory tower on the summit to our Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, NH. This link,

Cabin fever and the storm to come 2009-01-27 20:18:36.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer 1800Z = one o'clock in the afternoon Cabin fever has been a topic of many comments. It manifests itself differently each time: sometimes everyone feels a little depressed. Other times the crew might get slightly destructive and revel in de-icing or run around on the deck in strong winds, just to get their heart pumping. Sometimes we get a bit loopy, and laugh at even the lamest jokes. Sometimes we forget what sunlight looks like. That is precisely what happened today.I personally, felt like a mogwai (Gizmo

NULL 2009-01-26 17:48:08.000 - Jeffrey Viel,  Summit Intern NULL Today I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to see the sunrise. As I walked out onto the deck, I immediately felt a dangerously low wind chill. Luckily, it wasn't too windy, relatively speaking. The winds only reached 40 to 50 mph. Since I began my stay here at the Observatory, I've learned that everything truly is relative on Mt. Washington. As I made my way over to the opposite side of the deck, I hid behind a huge concrete ventilation unit. Camera in hand, I began snapping multiple pictures.

Server Upgrade 2009-01-25 17:48:06.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer NULL For the past couple of shifts I've been working on upgrading the operating system on our main database server located here on the summit. This server stores all the data collected by the various weather instruments as well as records all our observations, comments, forecasts and so on. It was running a really old version of Linux which would not support the latest versions of MySQL (our database application) and PHP (our main internal programming language). Over the years our data collection system has grow and expanded considerably and now

Forecasting 2009-01-25 00:05:46.000 - Mike Carmon,  Observer Model Output Statistics (MOS). Can you decode? The science of meteorology has many facets to it: observing, broadcasting, forecasting, researching, etc. At some point, most meteorologists will come into contact with all of these. Each discipline has its own pros and cons, but personally, I'd have to say forecasting is one area that can be the most frustrating.Weather forecasting has been practiced since 650BC, when the Babylonians tried to analyze the skies, study the clouds, and predict the weather. The first hard, extensive record of an attempt to understand and predict the atmosphere

Spirit and MoonTide the foxes 2009-01-23 16:16:15.000 - Jordan Scampoli,  Summit Intern Peekaboo It has been 143 days since I began interning up here at the Observatory - not straight through of course, but 10 shift weeks after my first fateful trip up as a scared little junior intern (thanks Jeff). Now I'm a big bad senior intern (sorry Ali), and a little nervous that I only have 95 days left before I'm out of here. The first week of my internship I saw the foxes that sometimes loiter around the summit looking for a free meal. This morning watching

Justin's day trip 2009-01-22 11:38:31.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer clouds and summit buildings Who comes to the summit during their off-week? Many of us have made the trek for one reason or another. For example, Ryan Knapp hiked to the summit three times in one week: once to bring a friend, once for Seek the Peak, and once with one of the summer interns, Ted. Occasionally we'll get visited by past interns or observers, just hiking in the beautiful Whites. Most often though, its observers and interns bringing their friends and family on a tour. I mean, we do work

From a volunteer. 2009-01-20 21:22:24.000 - Summit Volunteer,  Summit Volunteer NULL This has been a very good week to be a volunteer here on the summit, cold temperatures (-26), high winds (100+mph), sunny days, foggy days and topped off with today which was a perfect hiking day. Ali (Winter Intern) and I decided to hike down to Lakes of the Clouds after lunch. It was bright and sunny all the way to the hut when a cloud came in and it started to snow. We started back and hiked out of the cloud back into the bright sun. The day

Goggles 2009-01-19 23:08:20.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Two out of infinity. Collect them all today! Most people know someone in their lives that have so many of one item it makes you wonder why they would ever need so many of just one thing. It may be a collection of hats, jerseys, sunglasses, purses, porcelain figures, thimbles, beanie babies, video games...I think you get the idea. Sometimes, you just ignore it or go along with it but others are just so excessive you just up right have to ask the person, "Why?" If it's something they wear, they might