Subaru Science at the Ballpark 2008-08-13 14:10:11.000 - Ken Rancourt,  Everyone's Buddy NULL It is nice to be back on the summit again after a long respite. The cool summer breezes are great, and the fog has just broken so I can see into the valleys. While Mr. Clark is on vacation in sunny PA, Jim Salge and I will be covering for him for the rest of the shift.Although it is nice to be back on top, I'll miss what is likely to be a really great program at our Weather Discovery Center in North Conway. Tonight is the

volunteer comment 2008-08-13 07:33:30.000 - Ken Stockwell,  Summit Volunteer View from the tower when it wasn't foggy. My weekend here has drawn to a close — I came up Thursday to help my wife, Maggie, as a Volunteer for the Mount Washington Observatory. Maggie has volunteered in the summer months since 2000 and myself, in all seasons of the year, since the mid 1990's.A busy time – a Summer Edu-trip was here Thursday so there was a full house. The rest of the weekend was busy with many members of the Observatory coming through and taking tours of the facility.

alpine garden 2008-08-12 15:35:13.000 - Lisa Hodges,  Summit Intern Last night's final appearance of the sun. I once heard the saying, "There is no bad weather: only bad clothing." Mt. Washington seems to have emphasized this concept for me. As I hiked up from Tuckerman Ravine on Sunday morning, in a brief period of clearing, I encountered many hikers wearing t-shirts, jeans, and sweatshirts, and carrying not even a day pack. As I approached the summit, light rain began to fall, and many of the hikers around me were not prepared with rain gear. Although I have yet to experience

labview projects 2008-08-11 10:38:36.000 - Jeff Wehrwein,  Summit Intern Pre-sunrise clouds over Wildcat. This week, I have been working on a project that relates to the current summit conditions page on our web site. That page is actually just a screen shot of a program that pulls data from our databases every minute. The program is written using LabView, which is a programming environment designed for working with instruments and data. It runs in several locations, including our living room here on the summit. At some point, the one in the living room stopped working properly, and I have been

Dennis' Last Comment 2008-08-10 10:08:05.000 - Dennis Vienneau,  Space Grant Extern Summit Sunset My summer as a teacher extern on the summit is quickly coming to an end. We’ve been in the clouds for most of this week’s shift, which has been a blessing for me. There haven’t been that many distractions to keep me from working on my summer project. My project entailed working with 10 years of historical cloud data observed at four nearby regional airports and recent cloud data that the MWO has collected from instruments that it has installed at the Cog Railway Base and at

edutrip comment 2008-08-09 07:42:29.000 - EduTrippers,  Mount Washington Observatory Under and overcast in a moment of clearing Imagine a cozy cottage with wonderful food, good company, bunk rooms, knowledgeable guides, an independent-minded cat, multiple learning opportunities, views made all the more spectacular when they're only briefly available through the fog, and the world's worst weather. Spend a night here at the top of Mount Washington with an Edutrip, and you will experience all of that and more.Our group of six, ably led by Michelle, is leaving with terrific memories. For weather we came, and weather we got! The mountain kept

Nights 2008-08-08 05:28:39.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Look it is clear - the view on Friday morning I'm working nights this week, since Mike, who has ended up as our main nocturnal observer on this shift, is away on vacation. This is only the second shift I've done on nights and it's taking a while to get back into the routine. During the day there are usually two observers around so we split the observations and routine work allowing both of us to get other tasks done. On nights, however, there is only ever one observer so your time

Chaotic Sky 2008-08-07 04:25:08.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Chaos All Quads This past week has been a change for me. I have been working nights all week, which Ryan typically works on my shift. Ryan took a half shift of vacation this week, so rather than switch from days to nights in the middle of the shift (which would be incredibly difficult to do!) I did the entire week on nights.nnThe night shift is a welcome change from my typical days, although I don’t think that I could do it all the time. Not that I have to worry about

Two Volunteers Reflect: 2008-08-06 07:14:06.000 - Doug Mathews & Bob Foudriat,  Summit Volunteers Last Thursday's (only) sunrise... Notes from our two volunteers this week:A week as a volunteer is drawing to a close and with the final curtain comes a mixture of elation and trepidation and overcast skies (as usual). The latter being something I've gotten used to.Elation; I miss my family and personal routines that I've grown accustomed to over my many years being aboard this planet. I have many issues to tend to as well as a sixteen year old boy who needs guidance (and does he need

Comment the Last 2008-08-05 10:27:41.000 - Ted Letcher,  Summit Intern Flowers amonst the mist in the alpine garden Cabin fever as defined by Merriam-Webster is “extreme irritability and restlessness from living in isolation or a confined indoor area for a prolonged time.” As the end of the week draws near, the whole staff is starting to feel the effects of cabin fever. This is because the fog and more or less constant threat of thunderstorms has kept everyone confined to the observatory. Today I fought back! Knowing that the threat of thunderstorms was dismissible, I decided to brave the soupy