Peter 2007-12-11 18:02:06.000 - Peter Sciola,  Summit Intern Monthly Sky Cover Scores Intern’s Log: stardate -316942.46 – This will be my last entry in this log…Somehow this week flew by even though nothing exciting happened in terms of weather conditions. Of course this may all change tomorrow for shift change when sustained winds of over 90 mph and gusts well above 100 mph are forecasted. I guess it is appropriate that the highest winds I will ever experience may occur on my last day here on the summit. As you may have already gathered, this was the final week of

WCBS-2 visits the summit 2007-12-10 11:03:20.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Some of the crew with Jim Cantore The subject of today’s comment is actually something that occurred last Wednesday. This just happens to be the first chance I have had to write about it.The Observatory has been getting quite a bit of media attention lately, not that this is anything new. Of course, the most notable media exposure was Good Morning America’s live broadcast from the summit in mid November. This past Wednesday we had yet another television station visit us for the day to film.This time it was WCBS-2

Self Interview 2007-12-08 22:29:11.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist NULL The following interview took place in an observer’s head between Imaginary Reporter (IR) and Staff Meteorologist (SM) the night of December 8th, 2007:IR: Good evening and thanks for having me here. For the record, spell your name and where you are from. SM: Sure. It’s Ryan, R-Y-A-N, Knapp, K-N-A-P-P from Berlin, B-E-R-L-I-N, New Hampshire, N-H.IR: Great, thanks. Alright, let’s start with the weather. What’s happening outside right now? SM: Well, at the last observation, we had blowing snow and freezing fog with a visibility of 1/16 of a mile and

Server Room 2007-12-07 18:12:10.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer View From Tower 120707 “So Steve, my buddy, can you move the two racks from the library to the server room” said Ken during Wednesday’s shift change.“Yes sure no problem” I naively replied.Little did I know that to get to the said racks would entail excavating through years of accumulated flotsam, discarded debris and the remains of past projects. After several hours of cleaning and sorting, the racks are now in the server room and the library is once again accessible. Some of the more interesting items found included an old

Nins Retirement 2007-12-06 17:05:58.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Nin, hard at work like always So I guess the proverbial cat is out of the bag. No pun intended.Those that were able to watch the Good Morning America broadcast on November 19th were the first to find out that our beloved Observatory cat, Nin, will be retiring from his post on the summit in a few weeks. Quite a bit of discussion ensued in our forums. Of course, if you didn’t get to see the Good Morning America broadcast and don’t peruse our forums, then you may not have known until

Katherine 2007-12-05 08:36:20.000 - Katherine MacDonald,  Summit Volunteer Low Lying Clouds Here I am again in one of my favorite places to volunteer. Each time there are familiar faces and new greeting me. Always welcoming. Each group making my experience up here fresh. This particular group, as with the others, young, intelligent and ambitious. Eager to learn and share. With 3 young ladies as part of the crew this time, I have to admit it’s been especially pleasant for me. Also there are the State Park personnel that are next door. They are essential to the smooth running of the

The Butterfly Effect 2007-12-04 14:17:32.000 - Linnea Koons,  Summit Intern NULL The Butterfly Effect; Noun; a term attributed to Edward Lorenz and used to describe the effect a small disturbance can have on a non-linear dynamical system (the atmosphere for example). Also called “sensitivity to initial conditions”, it refers to the idea that the tiny perturbations in the atmosphere caused by the flap of a butterfly’s wings can ultimately set off a tornado or other high powered storm (conversely, it can also prevent such an event). I was reminded of this phenomenon when Karen and I took a walk down

Expect the Unexpected. 2007-12-02 18:07:21.000 - Zach Allen,  Meteorologist Descending from above. As everyone up here anxiously waits for the first winter storm of the season, today was filled with surprises! First was being free from the fog which provided for exquisite views. As the sun rose around 7 AM, we witnessed a sun pillar far off to the southeast. The tall orange tower illuminated the clouds. Quite different from twenty four hours before when bitter cold and whipping winds grasped the summit. A few hours later in the morning, Chris Uggerholt from the Mount Washington State Park, stopped by

Blustery! 2007-12-01 08:50:38.000 - Zach Allen,  Meteorologist Pegged! Some of you are probably wondering where I am lately. Well this week Kyle and I are trading places! That’s right Kyle is working the night shift as I am working with Stacey on days. It is a nice change and gives me a chance to get some sunlight this week, if we see anymore. Yesterday the summit saw a break from the clouds providing for forty-five minutes of sunshine and there hasn’t been much more since this past Thursday began. The short break was good to see where the sun is

NULL 2007-11-30 18:28:32.000 - Karen Thorp,  Summit Intern Super Sonic Speed Today has been filled with shoveling, de-icing, and electrical wiring. The shoveling and de-icing took place despite the extremely cold temperatures (0.2 °F) and high winds with gusts up to 79 MPH. The combination of the two parameters dropped the wind chill down to -36 °F. Working outside for five minutes easily chills you to the bone. All skin from the nose to the toes must be adequately covered to prevent rapid frostbite. Regardless of the artic conditions, we ventured outside to manually remove snowdrifts from exits, take hourly