Cog Story. 2008-10-09 01:54:37.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist If you are an avid follower of the observer comments, you know that Wednesdays are rough on a night observer both coming and going. It forces our bodies to be awake during hours they are normally asleep and when the shift change meetings are over in the afternoon, the upcoming night “ob-er” lies there in the afternoon trying the get a nap in, with our internal clock continually saying “Really? Who are you trying to fool? Get up!” At first you fight it but eventually we cave in and get up

A Time of Change 2008-10-07 02:32:29.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer NULL While the summit is experiencing an early 'Winter Wonderland', we hear from our sources that it is absolutely gorgeous fall weather down in that valley below. I say 'hear' because seeing into the valleys hasn’t been an option at all this week. That is, until this very hour. Granted, seeing the Sun at this hour (2300 EST) would be interesting, and it's not normal at this latitude. However, Mike has just come inside from doing the observation, and has claimed that it is clear as a bell out there,

Deb's comment 2008-10-05 21:12:54.000 - Deb Mastro,  Museum Attendant What light through yonder cloud breaks Weather and LoveAn unusual title for a comment, but now that my time living here on the summit is coming to an end, I realized that those two words sum up my experience here.Mount Washington’s Summit has been called the home of the world’s worst weather, but I think it all depends on attitude. I love the weather changes and extremes that have been part of my life here. I arrived in May and my first day was clear, warm and one of the so

First Snow 2008-10-04 12:18:23.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Rime Ice On Deck Telescope It’s really starting to feel like winter has arrived on the summit. Over the past three days we have accumulated just over three inches of snow along with lots of rime and glaze ice. The temperatures have been falling steadily and the winds have been noticeably stronger, gusting up to 94 mph yesterday evening. We’ve dug out all our winter clothing and started de-icing instruments each hour. This morning we were out shoveling snow away from the deck doors and the top of the parapet. It’s

First Turns! 2008-10-03 18:24:52.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer First Turns of the Season! I woke up just after noon today, but knowing I was going to be up until 6 AM tomorrow, felt I should get a bit more sleep. I rolled back over, couldn't seem to fall back to sleep. Around one I decided it was time to get up, so I threw on my snow pants and went up stairs. As depicted in a previous comment, the windows are covered in a solid layer of glaze ice with rime ice building on top of that, so I

first snow and rime! 2008-10-02 17:23:34.000 - Jeff Wehrwein,  Summit Intern The last 24 hours have been very exciting from a meteorological standpoint. Yesterday afternoon we had hail from some thunderstorms in the area. It was foggy and rainy overnight, and the temperature was just above freezing this morning. As it fell throughout the day, rain turned to icy precipitation of all sorts, including our first snow of the season. We were kept busy all morning figuring out what type of precipitation was falling from the sky, and whether anything was even falling at all. Since midnight last night, we

Volunteer Comment 2008-10-01 09:41:33.000 - Summit Volunteer,  Summit Volunteer NULL As one of two volunteers here at the Mount Washington Observatory, I have spent this past week at an observatory observing the observers observe. This got me to asking, 'just what does it mean 'to observe.'' The online dictionary (Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.1) provided the following as one of the definitions of 'observe'--'to regard with attention so as to see or learn something.' What have I learned in this time observing on the rockpile? nnI have learned about clouds, barometric pressure, fog, wind, and rain, to list a few. More importantly

Volunteer comments. 2008-09-30 18:19:41.000 - Elizabeth Kennedy,  Summit Volunteer Undercast skies. In June 1999, I exited the 'Dungeon' at Lakes to pink sky, no wind, and enough early-morning warmth that we quickly packed up outside for the day's AT trek over Mount Washington's summit.nnI remember people at the observatory being excited about the record heat--I couldn't confirm that just now--but we spent enough time touring there that we arrived later and more exhausted than we had hoped at 'The Perch,' RMC's tentsite locale west of Mount Madison. But, I had learned one could volunteer to cook a week for the

Abnormal Wx? 2008-09-29 17:08:47.000 - Mike Carmon,  Summit Intern A little clearing in the middle of a foggy week The weather around here has been fairly warm (by our standards) recently. The daily high broke 50 degrees Thursday-Sunday. The almanac shows a normal high of about 37 for these days.Hurricane Kyle gave Maine a scare, placing the state’s coast in a Hurricane Watch for the first time in 17 years.Mt. Washington has yet to see snow this season. Generally the summit will see its first couple of inches in September. October is less than 36 hours away.This past Thursday, the

Update on Nin 2008-09-28 17:16:38.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Nin doing what he always did best As many of you will remember, for roughly 15 years, Nin the cat was the beloved mascot and pet of the summit crew. In late December 2007, Nin retired from his post on the summit because of concerns regarding his health and age. It’s hard to believe that in just a couple months it will be a year since Nin left the summit. Of course, Marty arrived in January of this year and has done a fine job filling the role of the summit