An Account of the 148 mph Storm 2019-02-10 09:14:33.000 - Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   The past 36 hours on the summit were an amazing show of the power of nature, and one that I’ll personally remember for a lifetime. Winds topped 148 mph at approximately 6:50 AM on February 9th, 2019, shattering my previous personal record of 133 mph! The storm was by far the most impressive wind event I’ve witnessed in my 6 years on the summit, here’s some more details on what it was like to be up here during the storm. Surprisingly, I slept very

Summer 2019 Internships 2019-02-08 06:12:03.000 - Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Although the calendar reads February and we’ve still got a lot of winter to go, it’s not too early to start thinking about the summer season! I personally started here at the Observatory as a summer intern, and it was a decision that helped shape my career today. We are accepting applications through March 5th, so there’s only a few more weeks to go. The summer internship can still have a taste of winter! Summer 2018 intern Simon helped de-ice the instrumentation in June.  The summer internship is

Windy Year Statistics so Far 2019-02-04 13:28:45.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   There have been several blogs so far over the past few weeks that have been talking about how windy this winter has been compared to past winters. I pulled together some data and did some light analysis on it to see how it stacks up as well. I grabbed daily average winds and then created a Boolean where if the day had winds over 100 it was 1 and if not it was zero. I then created a running average over 365 days for the wind

From Day to Night 2019-02-02 15:18:55.000 - Ian Bailey, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   It certainly has been an interesting shift so far. This is our first week back after our Night Observer Chris moved on from the Observatory. Obviously there is a bit of a void, as Chris is a great meteorologist who brought a lot of heart and character to our crew. You can tell that everyone misses him pretty badly, with each us of dealing with his departure differently. I mean, even several of the New Hampshire State Parks crew have come around asking if he is still

My 5th Volunteer Trip! 2019-02-01 13:32:18.000 - Jeffrey Swanson, Summit Volunteer   This year marked my fifth volunteer trip to the MWObs weather station on the summit of Mt Washington. I have always enjoyed these trips, with each one offering a different perspective. This trip our team was locked in the clouds with wind, rain, and snow. We achieved clearing on Monday that offered our first opportunity for photographs! A significant part of what volunteers do here is to prepare meals for the summit teams and the visiting day and overnight trips to the observatory. This years hiking groups had

Oh the Places You'll Go! 2019-01-26 15:41:37.000 - Taylor Regan, Weather Observer and Research Specialist   Each year, the American Meteorological Society hosts a conference, bringing together folks on the forefront of scientific discovery, as well as their research. It is an event that hosts thousands of like-minded scientists and weather enthusiasts, and results in providing real-time peer-to-peer feedback on some of the most innovative and novel applications of science as we currently understand it. The conference also provides resources for a variety of educational panels, short-course workshops, and a massive meeting of companies either well established, or entrepreneurial, each

MWO Researchers Participate in 99th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting 2019-01-24 15:24:12.000 - Dr. Eric Kelsey, Director of Research   Research Specialist Observer, Taylor Regan, and I, Dr. Eric Kelsey, flew cross-country to Phoenix, Arizona for the 99th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting. AMS is the world’s largest professional society for meteorology and its membership includes operational meteorologists, National Weather Service and NOAA employees, private sector scientists and engineers, instrumentation manufacturers, university professors and researchers, college students, climatologists, astrophysicists, ecologists, biologists, and more. The annual meetings held every January attract over 4000 people from around the world each year.

January Melt Out and an Impressively Windy Start to Winter 2019-01-24 13:20:44.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist     Melting snow and rime ice beneath our A-frame leading to the observation deck    We’re seeing the infamous “January thaw” here on the summit today as temperatures have risen above freezing for the first time in 2019. Rain is currently falling on the summit, combined with fog to lead to very wet and unpleasant conditions outside. Our snowpack is condensing and melting quickly this morning, falling from 10 inches to 7 as of noon today. Temperatures are expected to rise

Thank You All For My Time Here 2019-01-23 05:01:53.000 - Christopher Hohman, Night Observer/Staff Meteorologist   They say time flies when you’re having fun. To say that my time here has gone by quick, is quite frankly an understatement. The joy that this job has given me every night really cannot be put into words. The countless starry nights, all the storms (both summer and winter alike), and the fastest winds I’ll ever experience in my life. It all has meant the world to me. Above all of that thought, there’s really one part of this job that will carry

First Week at the Observatory 2019-01-20 09:45:18.000 - Jay Broccolo, Summit Intern   Hello and cheers from the summit of Mount Washington! My name is Jay Broccolo (check out my bio in the Staff section if you would like to know more about me) and this is my first communication with you all from here in the Observer Comments. This is also my first shift week as a Summit Intern at the observatory so I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience so far with all of you wonderful readers and enthusiasts. The shift week started Wednesday morning