Rime-lapse 2008-12-09 21:49:34.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Rime time. Over the last few months, I have been dabbling in time-lapse photography of subjects relating to the summit. As of yesterday, I had only been satisfied and posted one video and that was in our ObsCast a few weeks ago on the subject of our barograph (November 10, 2008). In that video I shot a picture every 10 minutes over 3 hours to show how the pressure trends on an instrument that barely moves. The resulting video only lasts a matter of seconds but shows movement that even I had

122 MPH Wind Gust and Record Cold 2008-12-08 20:10:17.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Houston, We Have A Problem Some people need coffee in the morning to wake up. Some people need to geta hot shower. Well, I don't drink coffee (it stunts your growth you know)and showers aren't an option on the summit this time of year. Luckily, ona day like today I have the weather to wake me up, in more ways than one. A wind gust of 122.4 mph (our peak gust for the day corrected for temperature andpressure at the time of the gust) at 5:33 a.m.

Novembers summary. 2008-12-07 17:46:08.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist NULL November is a month that most Americans give thanks. Thanks for family, thanks for food, thanks for life, etc. On the summit, it was a month to give thanks to some of the weather that we experienced and hope for what might come. Once again it is the first two weeks of the month which means it is time for me to do the monthly check for the previous month which in turn shows us how we are standing in terms of monthly and annual totals and how they compare

Three 2008-12-06 17:57:28.000 - Mike Carmon,  Summit Intern Snow-covered summit ...And then there were three.The remainder of this shift is promising to be a very quiet one on the summit—as far as staff goes. As Mike F mentioned in a comment a few days ago, he is turning his coat and switching to our shift. He worked only part of our shift this week, and headed down this (Saturday) morning. That brought the total number of staff up here from 5 to 4.In addition, we lost our volunteer for the week a few hours later due to extenuating circumstances. That

About Writing Comments 2008-12-05 15:59:58.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer NULL Today’s comment is about writing comments. I know, that may sound strange, but bear with me here.The summit staff makes every effort to write a new comment every day. Sometimes, as perhaps you can imagine, that can be difficult for a number of reasons. Some days it is not particularly easy to come up with a topic to write about when not much is happening on the summit (weather related or otherwise) and then other days are just so busy that it is tough to simply find time to sit

A Shift Change of a Different Kind 2008-12-04 16:12:45.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer NULL It is with a similar sentiment as Deb, one of the museum attendants this summer, wrote with after she left the mountain that I write this comment. As we spend eight days on the summit, followed by six days off, we end up spending more time on the mountain than we do at 'home'. These means we spend a significant amount of time with our coworkers and slowly these fine folks transition from being merely coworkers to being close friends and indeed, family. Normally the

Letter to my granddaughters. 2008-12-03 09:38:50.000 - Rob Jones,  Summit Volunteer Rare sunrise. Dear Maggie and Molly, Living in California where it is warm most of the time, you don't know what a New England winter is like. Once and a while you see some snow, but to experience winter you have to visit it. I, on the other hand, live in Maine where winter comes to visit early, and often overstays its welcome. Why would I want to visit a place that has more winter than Maine? I hope my comments will tell you why. If you like to

Hawaii 2008-12-02 06:22:17.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer Upon arriving in Hawaii, the blast of heat hit me harder than walking outside in sub zero temperatures. I keep thinking to myself, this is not normal. The end of November, and it is 83 degrees, humidity is just about the same number. My family members walk around in jeans and t shirts, the occasional sweater, and I have been sweating in shorts, skirts, tank tops, and bathing suits. Tropical Paradise is far too warm for my mountain blood. It is also infinitely strange to see holiday decorations up in stores, on street

Thick Fog and the Night Sky 2008-11-30 06:18:18.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Summit Stars: Sirius, Orion, and Taurus Today has been a nice change of pace from what has been normal as of late. It began with a short hike this afternoon, around 3:00. I had awoken early and spent some time reading and playing my harmonica when I thought it would be good to get out for a bit. It was quite foggy and a bit windy, averaging 50 mph, so I decided to hike down the autoroad a bit to the Great Gulf. It was difficult even

Thanksgiving 2008-11-28 15:49:30.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Thanksgiving Dinner Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with a great turkey dinner, provided and expertly cooked for us, by Rob, this weeks volunteer. It was certainly quiet, as we are without Stacey and Jeff this week, however, we were joined by Jim from State Park who also contributed an excellent corn dish. After gorging on turkey we then demolished a pumpkin pie before relaxing to a movie. And the best part is we still have lots of left overs!This week has certainly been quiet, with only four of us up here, and no