Columbus Day 2008-10-13 16:49:57.000 - Mike Carmon,  Summit Intern Sunday Night Sunset It feels like Labor Day Weekend was not too long ago, when the summit was packed with visitors and the museum shop made record sales. It’s hard to believe that was back in early September on my first shift. Fast forward about six weeks. Déjà vu! It’s been another crazy weekend up here on the summit, and it had nothing to do with the weather. As expected, the last of the major crowds rolled through due to Columbus Day weekend. Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend,

Volunteer Notes. 2008-10-12 16:46:15.000 - Steve Hill,  Summit Volunteer Fall on the summits. Fall is a wonderful time of year! And one of the best parts of the fall is the week I get to spend on top of Mount Washington, volunteering at the Mount Washington Observatory. I cannot wait to come back next year.The shift started as it normally does -- meeting in the parking lot at the base of the Auto Road. While I knew Ryan and Brian from previous tours on the summit, I had not met Mike or Sharon before. Also, there would be another volunteer

Fall Colors 2008-10-11 17:16:56.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Fall Colors in Mt Washington Valley Today has been an unusual Saturday for me. When I'm on shift Saturday is the half way point through the Observatory work week, which typically runs from Wednesday to Wednesday. When I'm off shift Saturday is a day to catch up with house work and spend time with my family. Today I started off at home but ended up on the summit. The reason for this odd situation is that I'm standing in for Brian, who's giving a presentation, on our 1934 record breaking wind

Marty the Star 2008-10-10 18:01:20.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Getting filmed The Observatory was visited by the media yet again today. Generally, media that comes to the summit is interested in the weather and the work that the summit staff does. Sometimes these stories digress to talk about how we live on the summit, but that is typically just a side story. This time was different. This time the main story was Marty, our cat.Four people from Powderhouse Productions arrived on the summit this morning to get footage and interviews for a show called Cats 101, which will air on

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