It 2006-07-10 09:04:35.000 - Christy Schultz,  Summit Intern Virga seen to the Northeast... “It’s been sunny for so long I don’t remember what the rain looks like!” Although I have absolutely no recollection of proclaiming this at 3 o’clock am last night in the intern bunk room to Dan (who was trying to sleep despite me talking up a storm while unconscious), I must admit, it is almost a true statement. On the summit this past week I have experienced the best weather since first beginning my internship in early May. The strong system of high pressure that migrated into

Great weather for Newton 2006-07-09 07:49:26.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Paul Runyon nears the finish line on route to the This week has proven to be a very busy one on at the top of New England. Good weather always brings people to the top, and the string of good weather culminated yesterday in one of the nicest summer days I’ve seen at the peak. And it couldn’t have occurred on a bigger day, as yesterday was the Newton’s Revenge bike race, the first of two bicycle races up the auto road. The annual bicycle hillclimb, scheduled for August 19th,

Last tracks and a rescue! 2006-07-08 09:23:36.000 - Dan Huber,  Summit Intern The green ravine with snow below... While every day on the summit of Mount Washington is unusual, the past thirty-six hours have been particularly so. Late Thursday afternoon, Jim descended towards Tuckerman Ravine to take some flower pictures. Christy, John and I decided to accompany him. I had skis on my back and a goal in mind, to ski my first July turns. Descending the summit cone, I quickly realized that steep down hiking on boulders with skis is more unpleasant than I thought it could be. However,

The bear(s) went over the mountain... 2006-07-07 08:12:08.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer They took the cog down! The reasons why people decide to climb mountains can range from ‘because it was there’ to deeply personal reasons. The reason why a bear would climb a mountain though has long been settled in childhood song…’to see what he could see.’ But still, despite the longstanding forewarning that the bear would someday come over the mountain, it was still quite surprising to look down off the observation deck and see a mother bear and THREE cubs bounding over the rocks yesterday!Large animals have

The Great Gulf 2006-07-06 08:03:51.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer The Great Gulf Headwall and Spaulding Lake After the streak that Ryan and I have had on our shifts for the past few months, it was nice to come up to the summit under clear skies yesterday. Though there is no logical reason for it, our shift has seen more of the rainy and foggy days of late, though in this weather pattern no one has seen it good per say. It just seems that the breaks fall on the times we’re off the hill. If we want to be real

2006-07-04 05:11:22.000 - Ken Rancourt,  Meteorologist Happy Independence Day! 'Low pressure located well north of the Great Lakes will slowly move eastward over the next several days. Meanwhile an associated warm front will cross our region this morning---bringing an increase in warmth and humidity. It will be followed by a cold front later this afternoon...' This was the NOAA New England Summary distributed this Tuesday morning. They could have just copied Sunday's report and changed the date! A pattern like this -- when humidities measured on the summit exceed 90% -- mean low clouds just skimming the summit and very

Morning and Wind 2006-07-03 04:23:05.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer Fractured clouds are hustling across the summit and periodically revealing glimpses of bluing sky to the east and northeast. The scene reminds me of winter when such wind perterbed clouds are a more common sight. Of course if it were winter it would still be pitch black at this hour and frightfully cold. It is neither.The sun has just now risen and the clouds have mostly dropped below the summit. The pastels of dawn, that aren’t nearly as cliché as they sound, touch on the tops of the partial undercast. The

In the fog with high winds? You don 2006-07-02 13:05:52.000 - Walter Sessions,  Summit Intern The Human Kite Have you ever had a cup of water so excited to be drank that it jumped out of the glass? Well I have. Yesterday, as I was enjoying the 70 mph gusts up on the tower, I learned a valuable lesson about wind vectors. As I brought a cup of water to my mouth, air shot off my face and into the cup, making the water so energetic that it decided to blow into my nose. If you want to try this

The temperate rain forests of New Hampshire 2006-06-30 04:41:55.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer The following I suspect will not so much surprise readers in the northeast as quantify what they already know. It has now rained on 50 of the previous 60 days. During this period 30.24 inches of liquid water have fallen from the sky onto the summit, pooling on the ground, percolating downward through the rock, and congregating in streams to be conveyed toward the ocean. That is incredible. Having back to back months of such monsoonal rains (17.90 inches in May and 12.34” thus far in June)

Oh the places you 2006-06-29 08:20:06.000 - Kristin Odell,  Summit Intern Week two from a Summit Intern, Kristin Odell: Well, here I am again. It's a weird life to conform to: one week on top of a mountain, and then one week back to life below the clouds. My first week was a whirlwind of emotions. Everything is new, and there is a gamit of information being crammed into my cobwebbed cranium. Every piece of information however, is new and exciting. I'm taking it all in with my eyes wide open. More than the educational component of my internship, I