A spring-like trip back to winter... 2007-03-28 18:22:01.000 - Jim Salge,  Meteorologist A bare stretch of road... After a nice week in the valley, with mild temperatures, melting snow, corn slopes and a general spring like feel, we find ourselves in an alternate universe now back on the summit. Temperatures are plummeting from their overnight highs near the freezing mark, and windchills combine for temperatures near -30F. I’m not sure it’s a cure for spring fever, but it’s certainly a reality check for the upcoming crew. Until today’s cold outbreak, the warm weather this past week really worked havoc on

A Foggy Night Hike 2007-03-26 23:51:40.000 - Mike Finnegan,  Summit Intern The Citadel It's important not to become complacent of the weather up here. We live in this citadel atop the highest peak in the northeast and go out every hour just to make sure it's still weathering out there, but we don't always stray too far. Every once in a while, it's good to remind yourself why people get lost and in trouble on this mountain (without doing so yourself).Jon woke up this evening and asked if I wanted to go on a hike with him over to Clay.

Fog and Clear Skies 2007-03-24 19:06:43.000 - Mike Finnegan,  Summit Intern Good day for a nap Today is quite a change from yesterday. For one, it's Saturday instead of Friday. But even more outstanding than that is the fact we can see further than a couple hundred feet. We spent yesterday in the fog while images from the west-facing webcams showed clear skies except for a cloud layer on top of us. It was not all so bad though; being in the fog does make taking an observation quite easy and gave us a chance to practice our rime-whacking techniques

Shrinking Snowpack 2007-03-22 19:12:49.000 - Kyle Paddleford,  Observer No Fog? Our snowpack, although still present, continues to dwindle. Unfortunately, the morning rain and fog, and much of the same this evening, will only accelerate the process. There is still hope of stopping this though, as a cold front will push through tonight and usher in some colder air, which will act to freeze up the snowpack and stop its impending slow death. I do not intend to imply that winter weather is over; it is just the first time that I have seen the contrast of snow and ice covered

Volunteer week 2007-03-21 08:13:25.000 - Judy Richardi and Leslie Adler,  Summit Volunteers NULL Here we are again. It only seems like yesterday thatwe were at the summit. But our last stint asvolunteers was in June. Now we've been back for a weekof winter, where the weather varied from utterlystill, white winter weather to winds whipping up to100 miles per hour. But we did not sit still. FromJudy's focaccias and pizzas and Leslie's cakes andmeatloaf we had the oven cranking. In addition to thestaff and intern and two visiting German universitystudents here for the entire week, we had an EduTripof 11,

Hello Halo... 2007-03-20 10:39:12.000 - Brent Antkowiak,  Summit Intern Halo Over the Summit... Yesterday was a fantastic day for hiking around the White Mountains, with light winds and partly cloudy skies becoming overcast towards the afternoon. Jim was feeling a little under the weather, so I took over the observations for most of the day, which forced me outside at least once an hour to get some great views and much needed time away from the computer screen. As a thin layer of cirrostratus clouds moved in during the afternoon, a nearly perfect halo formed around the sun. Halos typically

Outdoor Adventures 2007-03-19 07:34:53.000 - Rene Pollrich,  Visiting Researcher Lion Head Whiteout... Yesterday, photographer José Azel arrived at the Mount Washington Observatory. After breakfast, he asked me if I want to join him on a hike around Mt. Washington. So we started our Tour at 9:00 am and went down to Huntington Ravine. The wind speed was about 35mph and the temperature was around 0F. Sometimes, the sun broke through the clouds and spend us a fantastic light. From Huntington Ravine we hiked on the Alpine Garden Trail to Lion’s Head. The weather got worse, the wind speeded up to

Summit Frustrations...Largely fixed 2007-03-18 05:30:53.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Sliding rime... Yesterday was a rather frustrating day at the Observatory for a number of reasons. First off, and likely most notable for those who checked in during the storm yesterday, the weather wrecked havoc on our internet link. Water got into a connector in the antenna cable, and that was the end of it. After many hours working on the wire, and working with a soldiering gun that just couldn’t keep up with the wind, we had a breakthrough around 8PM last night, and things now seem (temporarily?) normal. We

Update: 2007-03-17 09:12:11.000 - The Summit Crew,  Mount Washington Observatory NULL The summit had a bit of a weather induced communications meltdown overnight, and internet remains spotty this morning. We will get the conditions, forecast and comments up as the link allows this morning. Until then, we posted the METAR conditions not transmitted overnight into the forums at this link:http://www.mountwashington.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3854&postcount=12   The Summit Crew,  Mount Washington Observatory

Melted summit and new snow on the way... 2007-03-16 08:23:21.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Storm arrives just in time... Morning dawned clear and remarkably calm at the Observatory this morning, allowing the staff as well as the overnight EduTrippers to survey the changes that occurred on the peak during the past few days in the fog. Temperatures yesterday began at 39 degrees, and combined with the strong winds and dense fog, melted a significant amount of the summit snow pack. Granted, with the well below normal snowfall this season, combined with the windy conditions of February, there wasn’t much snow