Nat Geo Event 2009-02-04 16:27:36.000 - Cara Rudio,  Marketing and Communications Coordinator Meet National Geographic photojournalist Jose Azel Building on the excitement of our feature in the current issue of National Geographic Magazine, the Observatory is proud to announce that it will be hosting an evening with National Geographic photojournalist Jose Azel on Thursday, February 19 at the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel.We invite you to join us for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the National Geographic article, 'Backyard Arctic,' as viewed through the lens of acclaimed photographer Jose Azel.The evening will also include a reception with the

Groundhogs Day Report from Marty, MWO CFO 2009-02-03 18:04:44.000 - Marty,  Summit Cat Marty! Marty here, reporting from the home of the world's worst weather.I heard reports that a distant relative of mine living at a much lower elevation has been trying to make predictions about the length of the winter season. Let me tell you how it is here at the Observatory. The weather this week has gone from almost no wind to gusts over 110 mph and we have had temperatures from -16 F to a mild 14 F. If you think that I am going outside to

Hiking with Jordan 2009-02-03 00:25:10.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer NULL Today I had the opportunity to hang out a bit with my old buddy, Jordan, from the other shift, my old shift. He has now worked his way up to the hard sought position of Senior Intern, relieving Jeff 'Wehrwolf' 'Wehrburger' Wehrwein who had previously held the position. Anyway, Jordan found a day off amongst his work-filled off week and chose to hike up the mountain and back to his other place of work for a visit. He seems a smart boy, but maybe he forgot that in two

Super Bowl Sunday 2009-02-01 23:21:13.000 - Marty,  Summit Cat Hey Marty-cat here to bring up an update on Superbowl Sunday! I felt a bit deserted at first tonight as everyone I have seen all week left me to go visit Chris over at State Park. He has a TV now with digital service. I eventually tracked down my people and set to watching the game, hoping the Cardinals would lose. No, it's not because Brian is from PA and I am siding with him. It's just that cardinals are so tasty! We mainly only see ravens up here, and besides

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