Birds revisited 2006-10-02 16:04:25.000 - Jon Cotton,  Observer NULL Back on September 4th I posted a comment photo of a bird perched on the window sill at night. (The comments are archived, so feel free to go back and look.) I didn't say much about the feathered visitor then but I am now. And yes, the information is still timely...a couple nights ago the same type of bird was again at the window. When I got off shift that early September week to spend some time with my AMC friends, one of them passed this on:The Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata)

Freezing Rain 2006-10-01 23:10:57.000 - Jon Cotton,  Observer LL Bean Red Today the summit got hammered. If you looked at the forecast today and then visited, you know the difference in what happened. The rain forecast for the state was easy. At the higher elevations the type of precipitation to expect became trickier to determine. All the models had us in the mid 30s with the freezing level about 800 feet above us through the day. We were supposed to go above freezing and confidently stay that way through the night. The hesitation was how cold would the air be

Winter Arrives 2006-09-30 16:53:21.000 - Bryan Farr,  Summit Intern Winter here, fall down there Even though we are only one week into autumn, winter has settled in for abrief stay on the summit. It is amazing how quickly one has to adjust fromwearing shorts and a t-shirt, to the triple layering of your clothes tojust be able to survive outside.My five previous journeys to the summit could have been considered"abnormal" by many standards. Near record highs, wind speeds less than 25mph and 90 mile visibilities are what most people wish for when the reachthe observation deck, I suppose I had

NULL 2006-09-29 10:08:15.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer NULL The hood of a water proof jacket is a surprisingly good meteorological instrument. Specifically, it could be called an auditory precipitation discriminator. Stepping out of the tower and into the aqueous soup, the belly of a cloud, the patter of rain echoed within the hooded shell of my jacket. LL. Bean, your clothes are good, but did you know they were scientific? The sound told me that the rain droplets were substantially larger and more widely spaced than they had been an hour ago, when minute rain droplets fell in the company

Volunteer week! 2006-09-26 13:11:10.000 - Mary Webber,  Summit Volunteer NULL I wanted to take my passion for cooking to new heights, and a week as thevolunteer cook at the Mt. Washington Observatory atop New England'shighest peak sounded awesome.It is!To cook for non-picky people who like to eat is a gift, and the bonusesare just heaped on top of that. Hanging out in the weather room watchingthe most variable, dangerous, and gorgeous weather in the world...to lookdown into the valley in a clear nighttime moment and see magical lookingvillages...to go outside and oh-so-briefly experience wind chills in thesingle digits while at

Planning... 2006-09-24 21:01:13.000 - The Summit Crew,  Mount Washington Observatory NULL A cold front has swept through the White Mountains this afternoon, causing the night observer’s sleep to come to an abrupt end around noon today. Winds picked up to around 90 mph and the sound of thunder filled the Observer bedroom. Soon after, however, the summit was temporarily free of fog, with a spectacular rainbow to the east.We have now gone back into the fog (typical for weather behind a cold front) and temperatures are beginning to fall into the 30’s. Winds remain above hurricane force and more showers

Beginning my internship... 2006-09-22 22:08:51.000 - Mike Renzi,  Summit Intern Rime on the railing... It’s about that time for me to introduce myself to the world. My name is Mike Renzi and I am one of the two fall interns up here for the next couple months. I came over from upstate New York as my hometown, but for the past four years I actually made Oswego, NY my home. I graduated this past May from there with a degree in Meteorology and a minor in Math. This is actually my second week on the summit, and so far I

Warm glow on a cold scene... 2006-09-22 04:35:34.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Warm glow... After one of the busiest night shifts I’ve had in some time at the Observatory, it was nice to wake up yesterday afternoon to the (apparently) serene scene in today’s picture. The fog had lifted revealing a mountain top showing its season’s (summer technically) first coat of snow. The snowfall only totaled 0.3 inches yesterday, but plenty of rime ice on the highest thousand feet of slope helped fill in the gaps. Simply beautiful.As I sat on the rocks below the building, occasionally snapping pictures while

First accumulating snow... 2006-09-21 05:45:11.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer First accumulating snow... A cold front had cleared the White Mountain Region yesterday morning, and temperatures had already dropped about 20 degrees from the evening prior. However, it was a second frontal trough, which moved through towards evening that really changed the weather for the worse. Clear skies early gave way to thick fog with temperatures in the upper 30s around noon yesterday, and temperatures continued to fall through the afternoon. By evening, the first signs of the second front were becoming evident, with increasing winds into the 30 to 40

NULL 2006-09-20 08:24:45.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer NULL The initial cold front has pushed over the peak, dropping temperatures significantly over the past 12 hours, but temps still remain above the freezing mark. The REAL cold air remains bottled up still behind a weak secondary disturbance that will push through later in the day today, cooling summits further, and perhaps touching off a few snow showers. Temps thereafter may not climb above the freezing mark for over 24 hous.Yesterday as the front passed through, we were hosting a tour comprised of President Sara Jayne Steen, Steve Barba, Steve Kahl and