A quiet morning... 2007-02-24 08:29:17.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer NULL A quiet morning on the mountain: Better than half the crew is sick this morning and with yesterday’s Edutrip and Radio hosts now departed the morning is comparatively quiet. The winds are still strong enough to create some rumbling and hissing, but I’ve become so accustomed to this noise that it just blends into the ambient auditory landscape. Temperatures have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride; up to 13, down to -16, back to 9 all less than 24 hours. We are currently warming up on a

WOKQ Live on the Rockpile 2007-02-23 08:33:31.000 - Jon Cotton,  Observer WOKQ, The Morning Waking Crew WOKQ, the Big 97.5, is live on the Rockpile this morning! WOKQ has quite a lot of history up here on the summit. If you're a regular listener you know they broadcast from the peak at 103.7FM. If you're a visitor to the summit, you've spotted one of their antennas towers. Folks from the station come up now and then for maintenance on the transmitters. We at the Observatory record a current conditions report every weekday for the Morning Waking Crew. Well, this morning

Thoughts from a volunteer... 2007-02-20 17:04:26.000 - Barbara McKeon,  Summit Volunteer More blowing snow... The world on top of Mt. Washington is certainly a different one from mine at home. Volunteers work one week shifts just like the crew does. Our shift began last Wednesday (the day of the big blizzard) but I didn't arrive on the summit until Sunday when my February school vacation began. My husband and his brother came up for the first half of the week. They were very busy first cleaning and then cooking for the crew and and Edu. Trip and helping when the

Calm snowfall, then blowing snowstorm! 2007-02-19 10:38:24.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Serious blowing snow... The conditions that were experienced at the summit of Mount Washington yesterday were fairly rare. Light winds and a moderate fall of large snowflakes had the staff in their glory yesterday during the outside work…and play. By the end of the ‘storm’ nearly 4 inches of 4% density snow was gently resting upon the peak. Pure powder bliss was the general emotion of the staff!Conditions this morning are a stark contrast from yesterday. In addition to the brutal temperatures and windchills, all of the snow that

Back to normal... 2007-02-18 11:00:05.000 - Brent Antkowiak,  Summit Intern The failure point... The big story on the summit this morning is that the primary pitot tube anemometer is back online after yesterday’s short outage! After some intense, un-routine maintenance Friday evening and yesterday morning, the crew cleared the pitot around 9:45 a.m., and we have since been logging wind data as normal. The problem occurred in the skirt of the pitot tube’s vane, which had somehow become iced up despite extreme heating in the instrument. Luckily, this occurred at the end of our most recent cold outbreak, with temperatures

A note from the downgoing crew... 2007-02-17 07:31:13.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Be back shortly... Now slightly dated due to the storm the other day, I wish to post the comment left by Jon Cotton on the down going shift written Wednesday morning. A few quick notes though. Our primary, heated pitot wind speed recorder has developed an ice jam that has been difficult to dislodge. Ice is common up here, jams are not! And while regular observations continue, our backup systems do not feed directly to the website database. Once every three hours though, an unheated backup pitot is

Blizzard in the bunk rooms... 2007-02-16 10:02:24.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer How Note: the pitot anemometer is undergoing un-routine maintenance, and the backup systems do not flow directly to the webpage. Indicated windspeeds are likely inaccurate!*************************You did it! Thanks to your support of the Observatory, we’ve completed our membership drive and have flipped on the new Presidential Webcam. And since it’s been flipped on, it’s been nothing but grey. Eh, well, that’s Mount Washington. You take the spectacular with the often endless streaks of ‘in the clouds.’ I look forward to the first clear sunset from this webcam!The continued cold

Storm Summary... 2007-02-15 08:37:21.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Staff in the blizzard conditions... THE NEW PRESI CAM IS LIVE!!!Thanks to those who joined today and through our membership drive.************************************The past 24 hours of weather have brought a myriad conditions that might take a lifetime to experience in a ‘normal’ location. Winds blew from every cardinal direction, shifting from west to south to east back to north and northwest. Speeds yesterday were ever changing as well. Light in the morning, up to hurricane force by evening and then an eerie calm around midnight. Shortly after, we topped out at 117mph! Temperatures

BLIZZARD WARNING!!! 2007-02-14 08:41:56.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Satellite of the storm... Shift change came early this morning, with the snow tractor moving from the base at 6AM, however, the adventure had begun even before we got to the base. The drive through Pinkham Notch was slowed, not by slippery roads (as the snow was a very dry powder), but by extremely low visibility through the notch. So little in fact, that 3 of the 4 cars in our chain drove right past the base road. At the base, we got word that winds at the summit were low, from

Portland Weather Live from the Rockpile 2007-02-13 10:11:59.000 - Jon Cotton,  Observer Jason and Charlie, WGME Only 33 new members until the presidential web cam comes online. Click here, to join the Mount Washington Observatory CommunityThis week we have an old friend visiting from Portland. Charlie Lopresti is Chief Meteorologist for WGME Channel 13. Sure we see him on the tv downstairs, but he worked on the summit as an observer from 1999 to 2002. He arrived on Sunday to do some stories on the mountain as well as do all of his regular broadcast segments. He knows what winter