Cold Morning 2007-02-05 09:03:43.000 - Brent Antkowiak,  Summit Intern Virga over the northern peaks... After several days of gloomy skies and typical visibilities under 1/8 mile, the summit finally broke through the clouds for awhile yesterday. Jim jumped on this chance and took some photos like the one shown here of virga to our north. Virga is basically any form of precipitation that doesn’t reach the ground. With our temperatures and elevation, it is likely a mix of snow and ice crystals. The scene was short lived, lasting only a portion of the few hours of sunlight that we experienced,

C...C...COLD... 2007-02-04 06:29:47.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer NULL It’s always nice when you see a dramatic out-performance or over-achievement. Like an underdog winning the Superbowl, yesterday we awoke to the surprise that the snowstorm had strengthened during the night shift, and Ryan had recorded nearly 5 inches of snow on the summit. And upwards of 8 inches fell in other parts of the Whites. In a normal year, would this excite us…probably not, but this winter it’s a huge event.And it apparently wasn’t just us who were excited. Neil, taking advantage of his week of, skinned up to ski the

NULL 2007-02-02 08:11:57.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Our guests at dawn... Ground hog day on the summit of Mount Washington is always an important holiday for our resident folklore forecaster, Nin the cat. But this year seemed to take on a more resounding importance, as I’m sure many of you will take issue with the ‘six MORE weeks of winter’ clause. And Nin, seemingly sensing the pressure, just didn’t come through for us this morning. He got up to the door, took one look at the icy landscape beyond his lair, and went back to bed. And we’re in no

Cold Week Ahead... 2007-02-01 08:04:20.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Presidential Camera PREView... A lot is going on at the summit now at the beginning of shift and the endof the month.First off, at the beginning of the shift week, we like to look at the longrange models to get a handle on what the weather will be like this week. A way to plan days to work outside, plan how snowcat trips may beimpacted, and lets be honest, to plan the best day to steal a ski run. And this week…COLD! After tomorrow’s ‘warm-up’ and close call snowstorm,the bottom falls

Stability, Waves, and Wind 2007-01-30 09:33:33.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer Wave Clouds Winds this morning are higher than were expected; we’ve had a gust to 95 mph. This is significant in that it is about 20 below zero, and the wind does its best to instantly equalize the body’s heat with the surrounding atmosphere. Essentially this is what wind-chill values represent, the speed with which an exothermic body will lose heat. In trying to understand why our winds are so high we look to the temperature soundings for this morning (attained from balloon launches). It so happens that the vertical

A Happy Work Week Begins 2007-01-29 08:52:14.000 - Jon Cotton,  Observer Atlantic Ocean Sunrise Monday morning. The start of the week for most, nearing the end for us. Last night felt like wrap up for several of our projects. John Lind and Greg Carges finished the cabinetry in the conference room. Many people had input on what would be useful and how best to use the space. The final result is everything we wanted and more beautiful than we imagined. Cheers to that.Don Kearney, our cooking volunteer, has been working a number of things in his own right. Two days

Amazing Volunteers 2007-01-27 08:49:25.000 - Jon Cotton,  Observer Jackson, NH Wintertime is for indoor work - like knitting by the hearth. We haven't needed much convincing of this considering the brutal cold and wind chills in the out of doors. Unfortunately we don't have a hearth and LL Bean knits our gear. Other projects vied for attention instead. And we are not slouching.Volunteers John Lind and Greg Carges are fabricating the most beautiful room on the summit. John is known for his work here both for the Observatory and our landlords the State Park. Greg is a professional cabinet maker

Cold 2007-01-26 13:47:36.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer Fresh Tracks Yesterday Morning:My first observation revealed green twilight on the eastern horizon, abundant stars overhead, a singular shooting star, a temperature around zero and winds around 10 mph. It was beautiful. This morning:My first observation revealed thin freezing fog, gaps of dusky sky overhead, a temperature of -30F, winds at 81 mph, and a windchill factor of -81F. It is beautiful. Yesterday Mid Morning:Bright sun, a temperature of -10 and light winds. The snowfields had received a fresh layer of wind deposited snow. Peter Kelly (UNH AIRMAP), Mike Finnegan, and myself couldn’t

Shear Power... 2007-01-24 09:50:18.000 - Jackie Johnson,  Summit Intern Broken Bolt from high winds... To say the least, it has been an interesting week up here at the top of the rock pile. From extreme cold temperatures, to extreme winds, to comparatively warm days with little wind, this week has kept all of us up here busy. The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous! It has been hard to stay inside and get work done when the conditions outside have been so inviting. I am quite amazed that any of us got work done.One of the most interesting things

NULL 2007-01-23 10:41:00.000 - Brent Antkowiak,  Summit Intern Sun Pillar This Morning... This morning’s excitement on the mountain did NOT come from typical Mount Washington January weather. Instead, as Jim, Jackie, and I headed out this morning around 8:30, we were greeted with a summer-like feeling of warmth as the sun glared down from the southeastern sky. It was amazing how warm 5 degrees can feel without the common 60-70 mph, or in the case of just a few days ago, 100mph winds! In fact, the past day and a half have been just as calm, with temps around 0