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

Changes in the snowpack... 2007-03-15 07:28:50.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer First sign of mud season at the base... Less than a week after ending our 60+ day streak without hitting the freezing mark, we find ourselves in a 24 hour period without going below freezing. In fact, the high temperature of 43 degrees yesterday tied the record high for the date. The mountain had a much different look yesterday as we ascended for shift change. Many bare spots, plenty of slush, some runoff, and the beginning of mud season down low, as evident from this picture. It’s all part of

Winter, where have you gone? 2007-03-14 08:03:12.000 - Alan Metcalf,  Summit Intern Rain wrecks havoc with our winter conditions Well, my plea for help seems to have backfired. It appears that the overwhelming participation in my little plan to provide us with some high winds, instead injected a large amount of humidity into the air. Just before Kyle and Mike headed to bed the rain began, and has continued through the night making Jon's night observations wet and miserable. We've woken up to the same dreaded scene that has become all too familiar this shift, clouds. Nothing but clouds as

We need your help! 2007-03-12 13:12:43.000 - Alan Metcalf,  Summit Intern NULL What is it that has Jon, Kyle, Mike, and myself so upset? What drives us to craziness? Why have we developed such a great dislike for the other shift, even though their our friends and a group of great guys? Well...THEY'RE GETTING ALL THE GOOD WEATHER! I'm sorry about that but enough is enough. We all come to work here looking forward to the winter weather. What do we get? Moderate winds, predominantly "in-the-clouds" visibility, and temps that tend to plummet so far down, we can't get out