Rotor Clouds and Cold Legs 2007-02-11 08:37:48.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer Rotor Clouds Jon Cotton looks at me and says “Jonny Cotton is losing much heat.” Iconcur and we retreat to the relative calm in the lee of the generatorshed. To the east an elongated roll of benign looking cumulus occupies thesky above the Carter-Moriah and Wildcat ranges. Closer inspection revealsa more insidious beast, a rotor cloud, a tumbling eddy the top of which ismarked by heaps of miniscule cloud droplets. Along the upper fringe ofthis cloud a thin veil of pileus can be seen, suggesting the interactionof this rotor

1.2 inches 2007-02-09 14:07:52.000 - The Summit Crew,  Observer Looking toward Oswego We here on the summit have nothing to comment about today. It is cold, it is windy, and, yes, it is foggy. Joy.New York got six feet of snow (actually as much as 100 inches). We got 1.2 inches. Yeah. That about sums it up. Sorry folks, perhaps we’ll have something more worth your time tomorrow, but for the time being I would recommend heading to the Tug Hill Plateau.   The Summit Crew,  Observer

This week 2007-02-06 10:06:46.000 - Nicole Moore,  Summit Volunteer Ice candle centerpiece ... Considering the current conditions up here, winds 95.3 mph and temp -22 degrees(-72 with windchill factored in), what I am about to say may seem preposterous atbest, but....this place on the summit of Mt. Washington is one of the warmestplaces I have ever been! I joked with my husband a couple weeks ago that Icouldn't wait to get up here so I could enjoy my cozy bunkroom--our bedroom athome is pretty cold. Even with my windows here crusted over with ice, there isnothing more snug than lying

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