The life of a Mount Washington Observatory Summer Summit Intern 2019-06-16 10:01:13.000 - John King, Summit Intern   Insert a modified quote from “Good Morning Vietnam” here: “Gooooood morning Mount Washington!”  As exciting the weather is up on the highest peak in the northeast, the life of an intern can be just as exciting. Interns are delegated several responsibilities that make their lives an exciting and amazing experience. From de-icing in the summer to writing the evening 48-hour higher summit forecast, and a summer long research project, the life of an intern is like none other and you as a

Seek Your Peak: Alternative Hikes to Mount Washington 2019-06-15 13:08:29.000 - Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist     Looking across the southern Presidential Range from Mount Washington. The southern "Presis" feature much more moderate hikes than Mount Washington that still offer great views!   Although many people choose Mount Washington as their goal to hike for Seek the Peak (just one month away!) alternative hikes are a great option for those perhaps not ready to tackle New England’s highest peak. Hiking Mount Washington is not a requirement for the event, as mentioned on our website www.seekthepeak.org: “Ultimately the weekend is

Ethan's First Full Week on the Summit! 2019-06-11 18:40:53.000 - Ethan Rogers, Summit Intern   Hello everyone, my name is Ethan Rogers, and I am one of the summer interns for 2019! I am on the same shift as Ben Charles and Austin Patrick, two of the other interns, and it has been a great first full week on the summit! I am currently a rising Junior at Penn State University, and I am studying meteorology. I am in the ‘general’ option, which is almost like a jack-of-all-trades meteorologist, one who loves all types of weather and everything that has

Summer Internship! 2019-06-10 09:12:52.000 - Emma Penafiel, Summit Intern   Wind, fog and snow oh my! Being up here is kind of like being transported to a Wizard of Oz sort of world. I am constantly on the edge of my forecasting seat waiting to see what new type of unexpected weather will pop up next. We even got snow today. Snow. In June! Hello, my name is Emma Penafiel and I am the newest summit intern from Boxford, Massachusetts. I just finished my second year as an Earth and Planetary Science major at Johns Hopkins University and, let me

Instrumentation by the Decade 2019-06-07 15:38:09.000 - Charlie Peachey, IT Intern   The 1940’s ushered in a new era of research for Mount Washington. It was the beginning of research around rime icing at the summit. The project was first brought to the summit by David L. Arenberg of the Blue Hill Observatory. He picked the Observatory because of its perfect conditions during the winter to study rime icing. The typical high winds and dense fogs of winter set up the perfect conditions to study. Soon after, the basic factors to study were set and the research began. It quickly

Citizen Scientists Mobilize! 2019-06-04 20:41:37.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Every time I stepped out last night to a scene of snow and rime, I found myself double-checking my smartphone's calendar to make sure that it was indeed June. Especially since just a night or two earlier I had done my shift in shorts and a t-shirt and now I am bundling up hourly to step outside to take on the “June-uary” weather. However, I know from working here as long as I have, snow in early June is not unusual and in a day or two, our

Anna's First Shift on Mount Washington 2019-06-03 19:36:24.000 - Anna Smith, Summit Intern   When they say ain’t no mountain high enough, I’m not sure if they’ve been here and seen what weather the prominence of Mount Washington can help produce. Though to be fair, I haven’t experienced the extremes yet either and am not entirely sure what this mountain is capable of. And if I’m being honest, that’s probably why I love it. Hey, my name is Anna Smith and I’m one of the new summer interns here at the Mount Washington Observatory. Born in Jersey, raised partially in Maine,

June Snow on the Horizon? 2019-05-30 16:45:49.000 - Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   GFS Model surface pressure and precipitation showing low pressure and precipitation parked over New England Monday afternoon. Image courtesy of Tropical Tidbits.  Although June is a month when most folks are thinking of vacation and time spent on the beach, here on the summit of Mount Washington we’re no stranger to June snow! We actually average roughly an inch of snow for a typical June, but some years we see no snow followed by an inch or 2 every few years. Looking ahead at early next

MWO Instrumentation by the Decade: the 1930s 2019-05-30 10:16:30.000 - Charlie Peachey, IT Intern                   This past Memorial Day weekend marked the 87th anniversary of the first funding for the Mount Washington Observatory. Nearly nine decades ago Joe Dodge walked into the Copper Kettle Tea Room in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire for the 1932 New Hampshire Academy of Science Annual Meeting Memorial Day weekend to present his grand idea for a new observatory at the summit of Mount Washington. With the 50th anniversary of the first International Polar Year coinciding with this meeting Joe and Robert S. Monahan saw

From the Valley to the Peak 2019-05-27 09:03:22.000 - Benjamin Charles, Summit Intern   Hello I am Ben Charles and I am one of the new summit Interns at the Mount Washington Observatory. I am from Sparta, New Jersey, where I sparked my desire for adventure by spending my free time hiking, mountain biking and most importantly skiing. As an avid skier I constantly was forecasting for snowstorms in hopes for great powder days on the slopes. This is what brought me to SUNY Oswego where lake effect snow dumps hundreds of inches of snow a year. After four great