A sea of clouds. 2007-07-19 23:13:24.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Meteorologist Our sea of clouds. Midnight, the typical pea soup fog was met with much disenchantment. The thick fog gives everything that can be seen a uniform look. Even though it is pitch black out, I swear everything has a gray look to it. But the next hour brought hope as visibility began to improve and once unfocused objects began to once again take form. The next hours observation, the once gray sky became adorned with the vast expanse of stars I usually take in on a clear night. The only

NULL 2007-07-18 08:47:37.000 - Betty Baker,  Summit Volunteer NULL Good Morning :-)It is with a heavy heart, I leave the mountain. I have spent the past week as a volunteer in the observatory living space. I have been blessed by the beauty of the mountains and the people I have met. A special thanks to my extraordinary partner Karin, who shared her knowledge in the kitchen and her generous spirit. The staff and interns made us feel welcomed and appreciated. The kitchen is stocked with wonderful food possibilities and a willing group, eager to eat. I will miss the routine

NULL 2007-07-17 16:47:21.000 - Elena Crete,  Summit Intern The best 5am experience ever! The Elena Crete ExperienceI am a space grant intern working for the summer at the Bartlett research facility. As a part of my internship I was given a week to stay at the summit of Mt Washington. After 7 days surrounded by great views, blankets of fog and amazing people, I have a whole new perspective on my research. For the past few weeks I have been working on compiling the AMC hut data recorded over the last 16 years. In my week up here I have

NULL 2007-07-17 05:12:18.000 - Kyle Paddleford,  Meteorologist Betty catching some early morning rays! Karen, Betty, and Elena decided that last night may be their only chance to sleep on the observation deck before we head down on Wednesday. Sleeping on the deck is a great experience. If you can’t sleep, you have something to gaze at above you and you can always chat with the night observer. Also, you do not have to set an alarm clock because one rises every morning. I don’t know about you, but I would rather be awoken by warm sunlight rather than a loud

NULL 2007-07-15 14:26:52.000 - Dan Harnos,  Summit Intern Alpine Bocce As Nin mentioned in his comment yesterday, the summit has been experiencing some periods of nicer weather of late. Staff and volunteers have gotten out on a number of hikes and our current Edutrip was able to get in a nice hike yesterday as well. Downtime has seen the observers and interns out on the deck kicking the soccer ball around (and occasionally off the deck... Zach...), and soccer may soon replace alpine bocce ball as our shift's favorite pastime. There have been plenty of card games and TV watching

Nin 2007-07-14 01:20:10.000 - Nin,  Summit Cat Seeing double. Hello everyone! It has been a while since you have purred from me. I am doing quite well and have been enjoying my summer thus far. My feline feet are enjoying the feel of rocks and grass when I venture outside on warm sunny days. The vegetation is very welcoming because in just a couple of months ice and snow will return to my backyard. We have had lots of visitors to the observatory through tours, EduTrips and special guests. I hope to see more of my fans throughout the remainder

NULL 2007-07-13 12:39:19.000 - Staff,  Mount Washington Observatory NULL This year, we are asking a minimum donation of $100 to be a participant in Seek the Peak. That donation gives you admission to the awards dinner (and its tasty turkey dinner) on Saturday evening, but more important it supports the work of the Observatory. For instance, do you check the website for photos, live Mount Washington views, summit conditions, and weather forecasts? Then you have benefited from the work of the Obs - and we'd appreciate your assistance in keeping us going as we have for the past 75 years.PLUS

Time to move on... 2007-07-11 00:38:00.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer NULL Sunday night, amidst a surprise clearing of the western horizon, I was able to sneak away from the dinner table and find a nice rock to reflect upon the four plus years that I have spent working on the summit. The last rays of golden light were falling on an emerald green landscape, the sky was already ablaze and a strong breeze in my face was the perfect excuse for the slight welling of my eyes. As I watched, the lower hills in the surrounding valley suddenly developed caps

NULL 2007-07-10 08:41:22.000 - Cathy Radonic,  Summit Intern Sunday Sunset... As Lynn mentioned in her comment on our last shift week, our internships are, for the most part, at the half-way mark. Today, as most people are just getting into their weeks, mine is coming to a close. This will have been my third shift week on the summit, with only two more to go. Although, Mount Washington has proved to me that two weeks is plenty of time for an infinite amount of excitement to occur. In my past two shift weeks, I have seen everything from snow, glaze

Out of the Clouds 2007-07-09 01:59:49.000 - Zach Allen,  Meteorologist Evening on the rockpile... Greetings from your friendly Mount Washington Observatory night observer!Something wonderful happened as I began the night shift… we broke out of the fog! The summit received more sunlight in the first hour out we broke out then we have had since late Wednesday afternoon. The sun was more then welcome to the summit as it set up for a fantastic evening.Conditions were good, to great, to fantastic as the evening progressed. Each observation had increasing dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures which gave us relative humidity