The First Snow, And How It Happened 2018-10-15 06:04:08.000 - Christopher Hohman, Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Hello there everyone, we’ve had quite the week up here on the summit of Mount Washington. We are more than happy to let the whole world know that we recorded our first snowfall of the season this year!   Now it wasn’t exactly a “blockbuster” storm by any means. We picked up a simple 1.1’’ of snow for the day. Of course, we all wish it could have been a lot more, but at this point, we’ll take what we can get! This year has

Fall Season Information 2018-10-07 11:05:57.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   October has arrived, the month when the summit typically sees warm and muggy summer-like weather giving way to cold and snowy winter-like weather. During my years working here, some Octobers seeing us jumping off the deepen straight into winter while other years see a more gradual progression.So far 2018 is shaping up to be a more gradual progression.However, looking at long-term models this morning, snow isn’t that far off possibly coming by the mid-month time frame.This far out though, a lot can change, so we will see. While

What Time is It? 2018-10-05 12:27:54.000 - Taylor Regan, Weather Observer and Research Specialist   After doing some analysis of our historic records, I was pretty interested to find reference to something called “local mean time.” It was a term that didn’t quite line up with what the Observatory (and most folks) use to keep track of time, namely, Standard Time, Daylight Savings Time, and Universal Time (also referred to in some instances as zulu time). Intrigued, I decided to do a little digging, which led me to more questions, and eventually more answers, about why we a) have time

Back from Vacation 2018-10-01 09:32:24.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   This is my first week back from vacation and we finally got a bit of winter weather! I was hoping for more in the way of snow but getting a bit of rime ice was good enough. I strategically tool the vacation in September when the last of the summer weather is still around and the cold weather is staying just too far to the north. While on vacation, I was able to get back home to Colorado for a bit as well as visit a few friends

High Winds and Icy Sunsets 2018-09-25 16:37:42.000 - Chloe Boehm, Summit Intern   The last few days up here on the summit have given me my first real taste of the extreme (and beautiful) weather that Mt. Washington. Within 5 days of breaking a daily record high temperature, we had our first significant icing event of the season and our fastest wind speeds since May! Although the summit starts to get frost and some ice fairly regularly this time of year, the elements really aligned this past weekend to give us some of the most extreme weather I have ever

The Night Sky On The Summit, And 'What We Do For Fun' 2018-09-18 05:28:45.000 - Christopher Hohman, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Hello everyone! What a beautiful week of weather we’ve had here on the summit. That is, if you think clear conditions constitute ‘beautiful conditions.’ Personally I love being in the clouds, with high velocity winds whipping around the summit. Regardless though, we had a lot of sun this week, and subsequently very warm temperatures. We tied and broke daily record highs on two days, which was something we were thinking, might happen during our weekly Wednesday shift changes. Overall

Record Breaking Temperatures 2018-09-17 12:57:41.000 - Zach Butler, Summit Intern   As I typed this, we were breaking a daily record high temperature on Mount Washington! The temperature was 62 degrees, which broke the record for the 15th all the way back to 1939 when they recorded a temperature of 61. What lead up to these warm temperatures the other day and back in 1939? How do the days compare to each other? I went to the weather maps and history books to find out. The weather pattern for New England was a large upper level ridge with a strong

Sunny Skies and Happy Times 2018-09-15 12:26:05.000 - Ian Bailey, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Transitioning from the summer to the fall has certainly been keeping us busy up here at the summit. And with Shift Leader Adam gone this week on vacation, things have been even busier than usual. But as I promised myself during my internship, I’ve made sure that I am never too busy to stop, look outside and enjoy the weather that is happening around me. And in doing so over the last few days, I’ve seen some pretty beautiful sights. We’ve been under a strong high

Mount Washington: Breaker of Storms 2018-09-08 09:27:36.000 - Sarah Schulte, Museum Attendant           Each season brings with it new meteorological wonders for weather nerds to anticipate, and summer is certainly no exception. While the winters on Mount Washington are great for rime ice events, torrential snowfall and fierce winds, the summer season is a prime time for thunderstorms. Whenever the potential for a nice line of cells crops up in the models, everyone begins to cross their fingers in anticipation for a natural light show… …only to have their shoulders slump in disappointment when the cells sputter and die

Squall vs. Microburst: What's the Difference? 2018-09-07 11:10:13.000 - Thomas Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   Earlier today I received a weather question which I thought would make for a great blog post. What’s the difference between a squall and a microburst? A squall sort of has two meanings, the meteorological definition (which we use for our reporting) and the term used by everyday people. The National Weather Service definition of a squall is: “A strong wind characterized by an increase in wind speed of at least 16 knots and sustained at 22 knots or greater for more than a minute”.