NULL 2008-05-17 14:50:28.000 - Lisa Hodges,  Summit Intern My first summit sunset. The story of my internship here at the observatory begins with the mountain’s welcoming beautiful weather. I arrived Thursday in the fog, the summit’s typical view, but the next morning awoke to clear skies, calm winds, and a ninety mile view from the green mountains of Vermont all the way to Portland, Maine. If the haze had cleared a bit further, we may have been able to see the Atlantic at the Maine coast. Despite the mountain’s reputation for extreme winds, I was greeted with such a lack

Whistling Ravens? 2008-05-17 05:17:51.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Wicked sweet sunrise, dude! This morning has started out quite a bit differently than yesterday. It is still quite cloudy, but we are overcast at a couple thousand feet rather than the varying layers present yesterday. The sunrise a day ago was brilliant, coloring the clouds several shades of red and gold. Today I caught only the briefest glimpse of the sun before it ducked back behind this thick stratus layer. Rather than being greeted by the sun, I was welcomed by wee snowflakes striking my face. Don’t worry though –

a dreary day 2008-05-15 16:11:51.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Meteorologist NULL “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…” the first line in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, The Raven. It’s the only thing I can think of when I look out the window. Granted, it’s not midnight, I’m neither weak nor weary, and I’m not in particularly pondering state of mind, however it is severely dreary. I think that will be coded on our next observation, in the Present Weather column. It is raining with some extremely dense fog, at one point I could barely see twenty

Hike to Lakes 2008-05-14 18:27:14.000 - Kyle Paddleford,  Meteorologist Brrrrrrrr Today marked the quickest and smoothest accent of the Auto Road so far this year. On the way down after our last shift week, we were able to see sections of the road that has been washed away from the typical springtime nuisances. Luckily, the storminess remained well to our south over the weekend which limited the potential for further damage. The Road Blog has some good pictures and videos of the hard work that they have been doing to get to road in shape for everyone to come visit

volunteer notes 2008-05-13 16:28:49.000 - Summit Volunteer,  Summit Volunteer View looking north. While packing my bags for my second volunteering stint at the Obs I was considerably more relaxed than last October. During that stay I had the oppurtunity to experience many of the conditions Matt has explained and shown in his comments. As there was the first snow of the coming winter, 2 days of being in the fog resulting in incredible rime ice and hurricane force winds.On Tuesday evening my feelings changed and the excitement rose as I headed up Rt 16 and viewed the East Snowfields on

Unusual Weather Phenomena Photo Gallery - Part 1 2008-05-12 22:33:07.000 - Matthew Morin,  Space Grant Intern Lenticular Clouds When I found out that I was going to be an Intern at the Mount Washington Observatory, I thought I knew what to expect weather-wise when it came to high winds, arctic temperatures and loads of snow. Among the traditional cold weather gear needed to be fully prepared for a weeklong stay at the home of the world’s worst weather, I packed my camera with hopes of capturing amazing winter scenery. Sure enough, that’s exactly what I experienced. However, that was the

Favorite time of year 2008-05-11 16:24:37.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Now that I have been living on or around Mount Washington for almost a full year, I think that I have decided that this time of year is my second favorite. When I lived in Pennsylvania, fall was my second favorite season. What time of year has the title of my favorite you ask? Well, the heart of winter of course; it always will be.I actually just came to this conclusion today while I was climbing back up the East Snowfields this afternoon. I took a break from work to

Taylor Anemometer 2008-05-10 17:27:26.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Conference Room Now that warmer temperatures have arrived we are starting to test out the summer weather instruments in anticipation of placing yet more strange devices on the tower. The picture, to the right, shows the current state of our conference room after Brian and I took the Taylor heated rotor anemometer apart earlier today. This is a rugged wind speed and wind direction measuring instrument that has not seen use for quite some time now after one of the rotors, lower left in the picture, was damaged. After several hours

Auto Road Research/Hike 2008-05-09 23:09:55.000 - Matthew Morin,  Space Grant Intern Auto Road in May Today was not a normal day at the office. In fact, no day here ever is. However, on this day I had a special task which would require brawn rather than brain. The weather was just about perfect for what I was planning. At 11 am, the temperature was around 40°F, winds were light by summit standards, and skies were partly cloudy. Perfect spring hiking weather! Rather than programming for hours on end or analyzing 1.5 million lines of temperature data, I had the opportunity

Five weeks in the making 2008-05-08 03:12:17.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist April 2nd, 2008 was the last time I stepped foot on the summit of Mount Washington, NH. Flash forward roughly 35 days to May 7th, 2008 and my return to an altered summit. Rest easy though, the summit itself remains as true as it did when I left. It still rises to the notable 6288 feet as always and the buildings remain steadfast. It is the weather and the climate that have changed. Let me relate what I mean:April 2, 2008: The high temperature for the day was