NULL 2006-03-24 06:42:03.000 - Neil Lareau,  Observer With the equinox past, the sun is now conspicuous in its daytime elevation. At least it was in the valley over the past week. On the summit I'm told it has been a rare sight. Beneath the intensifying sun, giver of life, the slow parade of spring is underway. One signifier that stood out during my week off was the return of Turkey Vultures to northern New England. Seemingly omnipresent during the summer months, it was refreshing to see these carrion kings again wobbling in their pronounced dihedral overhead. Dependent upon thermals to

NULL 2006-03-22 07:21:02.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Tower and rime at sunset... After spending nearly the entire week in the fog, Mother Nature decided to finally give our crew a break yesterday afternoon. Clouds dipped below the summit by about 1000 feet, winds dropped off to around 20 mph, and temperatures warmed up into the mid 10s. It's amazing how warm 15 degrees can feel after spending a week below zero. I suddenly found myself ditching the facemask and down jacket, and comfortably returning to the deck each hour in a fleece. The week without getting outside had certainly left

NULL 2006-03-21 10:46:24.000 - Brian Clark,  Summit Intern Talk about consistency... My tenure as a ski instructor in the valley at Attitash Bear Peak ended last Tuesday since I came up on Wednesday for a two week shift that will end on March 29th (my first two week shift by the way). By the time I get back into the valley Attitash will be getting ready to close. So the question has popped into my head, am I ready for spring and warmer temperatures? Normally, after my home ski area of Tussey Mountain in Pennsylvania closes in early to mid

NULL 2006-03-20 08:58:26.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Predicting six more weeks of winter... Ah the first day of Spring. Could have fooled me, as the weather refuses to acknowledge this fact! This stagnant pattern again keeps the summits in the fog, and temperatures have dropped below -12F overnight. Windchills this morning sit around -50F, and intermittent snow showers continue to fall. It's been 5 days since we've seen temperatures rise above 3F...making this arguably one of the most wintry stretches that we've seen this year.Which got me thinking and into crunching some numbers...I really think that the seasons have swapped

NULL 2006-03-19 06:32:55.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Observer Corona around the moon... For the past two nights, the fog at the summit has been either thin or nonexistent. As the newest observer at the summit, I find that the fog at the summit the most difficult element to predict. During the previous weeks shift, I predicted the summit was going to be clear under partly cloudy skies. When I went to sleep at 0530 EST, the summit was just that, in the clear under mostly clear skies. When I woke up at 1400 EST, the summit was in the fog. The

NULL 2006-03-18 09:23:56.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Rime on a wire... Overnight, the clouds lowered below the peak, creating a nice undercast to the west of the mountains at daybreak. Temperatures rose above zero for the first time in 36 hours, and winds died off nicely allowing the entire crew to stroll about the summit. The mountain was quick to make up for lost scenes and vistas! Clouds surrounded the peak, the fox was out and about, the ravens were soaring overhead, and a red-tailed hawk even flew by the windows (a first for me). To me, the most stunning

NULL 2006-03-16 20:52:43.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer The weather has certainly been extreme here the past two days, but it gets marks off for consistency. It hasn't even been gusty, with sustained winds around 70mph, we weren't even seeing gusts to 80mph...rather strange with winds that high. Blowing snow has been another constant, blasting us the minute we emerged from the tower. But other than the extreme weather, there's nothing really to note weather wise.As an organization however, there is a lot going on at the Mount Washington Observatory. A new sense of urgency surrounds spring preparations, as the State

NULL 2006-03-15 15:34:47.000 - Jim Salge,  Observer Freeze...Thaw....Freeze... I returned to the summit on shift change day much the way I remember leaving it two weeks ago... Temps around 0F, winds around 100mph, visibility around 0FT! There has certainly been a myriad of weather in between, and only in the past 24 hours has the summit returned to the cyclical starting point.Yesterday's cold front brought about an inch of rain to the summits, along with very mild temperatures from summit to valley. Temps at the top jumped to 41 degrees, and the floor of Tuckerman Ravine hit 50! Just another

NULL 2006-03-14 05:04:14.000 - Tim Markle,  Chief Observer Neil Hard at Work Spring arrived in many unofficial ways overnight. The first sign, and the most notable, was with the weather. A spring-like storm pushed record breaking warmth over the summit, quickly changing the snow which fell yesterday around noon to rain. A persistent sounthwesterly wind has kept the temperature mild overnight, and the combination of the rain and fog has slowly been eating away at the snow on the ground. Looking through the dense fog, I can see many bare rocks resting upon the summit. The walk to get the

NULL 2006-03-12 03:37:09.000 - Tim Markle,  Chief Observer The weather overnight has made it a true joy to go outside hour after hour to collect the data for the weather observations. Temperatures in the 20s, clear skies, and a steady 40mph breeze has brought the feeling of spring back to the summit. Just 24 hours ago, I was suiting up every hour to de-ice in wind gusts over 100mph, using crampons to get walk out to the precipitation can, and watching the temperature plummet back into the teens! It is amazing to watch how quickly the weather up here can