Thunderstorms today... 2006-07-25 08:24:13.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Walter on Madison... The stats for this years Seek the Peak have been compiled, and we’ve put together a review webpage here. Thanks again to all the participants and volunteers for making this event such a great success!The weather yesterday was quite improved from the rain and drizzle over the weekend. Though we started off in the clouds, the fog lifted by midday, allowing the second 100 mile visibility day this shift! Amazingly clean and clear air!Late in the day, I got a call from Walter, an intern on the other shift

KH Waves breaking over the summit! 2006-07-23 13:12:53.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer KH waves over the deck... The skies sure did open up during the afternoon yesterday, drenching any and all late arrivals for our Seek the Peak, but fortunately most had had made it up early enough to get down dry. Unfortunately though, the summit staff, worried about the condition of the road for the ride back up, failed to make it down for the BBQ, and thus we don’t yet have information on our top fundraisers. We do know though that we gave tours to over 150 hikers

Seek the Peak 2006-07-22 10:48:48.000 - The Summit Crew,  Mount Washington Observatory Roy Prescott and his dog Sadie Hikers for Seek the Peak have had luck on their side this morning, as the weather forecast has held! Clouds moved in above the peak early this morning, and then moved in below the peak, but as of 11:30 we’ve remained out of the fog at the summit. So far a number of hikers, members and friends of the Observatory have stopped by, and we’ve been very busy giving tours of the weather room. Nin is lounging downstairs enduring constant pampering, and

Seek the Peak Weather Outlook... 2006-07-21 15:57:51.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Seek the Peak is tomorrow morning!I’ve just compiled and posted the afternoon summits outlook, but for those hiking tomorrow, I’ll give a brief discussion of the weather pattern, and how we think that it will impact our big event tomorrow!Today’s front will clear out tonight, and we expect summits to be in and out of the clouds, or even perhaps out of the clouds for a time early tomorrow morning. Morning sunshine likely on the peak!Unfortunately though, the front will stall to the east, and another low will travel

100 Mile Views in Summer?! 2006-07-20 09:05:36.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer A beautiful day on the summit... Two talking points have dominated our conversations during our morning radio shows from the summit this morning. First off, the nice weather in the Northeast seems to be on everyone’s mind today, and the summit has not been spared its ‘niceness!’ Warm temperatures and calm winds aren’t THAT usual on Mount Washington in July, but low humidity and haze free horizons are! At sunset last night, we were treated to views that extended over 100 miles…a summertime rarity! The real treat came after

A Cool Summer Day 2006-07-19 07:10:33.000 - Tim Markle,  Chief Observer This is more like it! It was such a refreshing feeling to go outside this morning and feel the chill of the air, and the chillier bite of the 15 mph breeze. Heck, it was even nice to go outside and see more than 6 miles! Yes, the hazy, hot, and humid conditions have been replaced by a dome of cooler and drier air from Canada, and the differences in the airmass are wonderful. This is by far the best summer morning I have seen this year.The clear and

Summer 2006-07-16 23:27:15.000 - Rick Comeau,  Teacher Extern Gibbous Moon Not every teacher during their “summer vacation” would choose to spend their time reading about arithmetic mean, median, histograms, scatter plots and box plots: a pre-requisite for analyzing temperature data collected by five different thermometers during the month of June. But, this is my summer vacation. I am living and working in a world renowned meteorological center. My teaching fellowship affords me a once in a lifetime opportunity for personal growth and to further sharpen my craft here at the observatory. The fellowship is aimed to improve my technological skills

Heat wave? 2006-07-15 16:54:17.000 - Kristin Odell,  Summit Intern It was a fairly mild day atop of the summit. Bugs of every shape, size, color and biting capacity wandered higher and higher. Their driving motivation, you ask? Tourists! What a feeding frenzy! Several hundred came to the summit today, on foot, by vehicle, or the Cog railway.Given the current heat wave we are experiencing in the Northeast, observers were abuzz with the potential of setting a new high temperature record. All bets were off, as the temperature remained in the low 60’s, putting us well under the record of 72

First Impressions From a Teacher Extern 2006-07-13 23:09:22.000 - Rick Comeau,  Teacher Extern On the 27th of June I said good-bye to my middle school students and with my science classrroom in disarray and several end-of-the-year forms still in my mailbox, I left to begin my five week teacher externship at the Mount Washington Observatory. What a difference 24 hours and a 180 miles makes! One would think I had transported to a very different part of the world; a world defined by clouds, wind, rain and measured by countless weather instruments and digital technologies.In one nights sleep I had

Practical Summit Lightning Safety 2006-07-11 13:41:39.000 - Christy Schultz,  Summit Intern Building thunderstorm over Mount Madison Here’s a question for all readers: If you’re on the summit of Mount Washington and hear thunder, do you a) tell your kids to hurry to the summit for a picture before the lightning strikes again? b) open up your umbrella? c) start out on a hike along the ridgelines above treeline? d) seek shelter inside a building or vehicle, or if hiking, get into a crouched position? If you answered letter ‘d’ you are correct! Sadly enough, we witnessed all of the above