My First Experiences on the Summit 2018-05-19 12:22:32.000 - Simon Wachholz, Summit Intern   Hello I’m Simon Wachholz, and I’m eager to begin my experience as one of the summer interns here at Mount Washington! I’m from Eastern Pennsylvania and I’m a rising senior at Penn State University majoring in Meteorology. Ever since I first visited Mount Washington in 2014, I’ve been dying to come back, and I’m so grateful to finally be returning as an intern. I have loved extreme weather for as long as I can remember, so there’s no place I’d rather work than at the home

My First Days on the Summit 2018-05-18 14:44:26.000 - Sarah Thunberg, Summit Intern   Sarah Thunberg reporting to you from Mount Washington! I was welcomed to the summit under sunny skies and a light breeze on Wednesday, much like my visits to the White Mountains growing up. The past few years I have spent most of my time studying atmospheric sciences in Illinois and little time in New Hampshire, so I am excited to be spending my summer back home experiencing the extreme weather conditions only seen while living on the summit. One of my side interests is astronomy so

Cursed to be Blessed 2018-05-15 12:48:06.000 - Ben Seleb, Summer Intern   Hearing that the previous shift had saw some especially exciting events, including aurora borealis and 130+ mph winds, I was extremely excited to start my first shift on the summit. However, when I arrived last Wednesday, I received a very warm welcome, with cotton candy clouds, sunny skies, and a comfortable breeze. This warm and clear weather has continued throughout most of my 8-day shift, giving me a misleading introduction to what living on the summit is typically like. Adam Gill, experienced meteorologist and observer, agrees that the

Big Bubble, No Trouble 2018-05-15 00:08:14.000 - Caleb Meute, Weather Observer / Meteorologist   Pleasant weather has plagued the summit this week with visibilities stretching beyond 100 miles, too much sunlight, not enough wind, and far too few trips to the precipitation can. While we are on the summit experiencing this awful stretch of perfect weather, a stalled frontal boundary south of the region has provided strong thunderstorms and frequent rain showers that have failed to make their way to us. The good news is that the Auto Road opened up and many visitors were able to make their way

A Dream Fulfilled 2018-05-11 11:50:05.000 - Jillian Reynolds, Summit Intern   “She believed she could, so she did.” – R.S. Grey, Scoring Wilder It has been a dream of mine to work on Mount Washington ever since I got a weather station tour back in the summer of 2011. Seeing all of the tools that are used up here to forecast weather, learning all about the extreme weather that can be seen up here, and meeting some of the observers made me realize that this is something that I want to do. Six years later, I was offered the Summer

Make Way for Summer 2018-05-08 14:58:14.000 - Taylor Regan, Weather Observer   Well, it’s that time of year again, spring! For weeks it was elusive, even as we closed out April as the 7th snowiest on record, with an average temperature 4.9 degrees below normal (9th coldest on record), we had all but written it off. But then, May arrived, and with it temperatures soared well above average, providing a significant melt-out of the snows of April (and of the rest of winter). Slowly, the sedge grasses worked their way free of most of the lingering ice patches, eagerly seeking

When One Door Closes... 2018-05-07 11:34:54.000 - Sarah Schulte, Summit Intern   When One Door Closes… …then, well, you can’t get through that door. You’ve tried, but the lock is bolted, and you don’t know the secret knock, and I think Marty might have stolen the key. Luckily, there happens to be a convenient second door to your right that’ll take you to basically the same place, so what was the point of locking the other - My metaphor is breaking down, and so, coincidentally, is my internship. This is my last week on the summit as a weather observer

What a Week! 2018-05-06 13:25:15.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Education Specialist   What a week it’s been so far on the summit, with basically all four season’s worth of weather and more! On our way up to the summit last Wednesday we were able to take a photo next to the newly-cleared out wall of snow on the Cragway section of the road. Although we had several big melt outs this winter season, recent heavy snow in April lead to a still impressive 18+ foot wall of snow! Since then warm temperatures and the higher May sun angle have led

Chaos During the Facebook lives 2018-05-02 09:36:05.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Being short staffed has not been too big of deal so far since we are in between the summer and winter season so the work load is a bit less. The one thing that is being affected is our Facebook lives that we do on the weekend. If any of you joined us for our Friday Facebook live, you would have noticed that there was a distinct lack of sound. Back when Mike Carmon was on our shift, I did all the behind the scenes controlling

Satellite Imagery 2018-04-28 09:15:46.000 - Jillian Reynolds, Summit Intern   One tool that meteorologists use to forecast is satellite imagery. Satellite imagery is the scanning of the earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain information about it (globalforestlink.com). Different sensors are used by satellites in order to collect electromagnetic radiation reflected from the Earth. Different surfaces and objects can then be identified by how much radiation it reflects. There are three main types of satellite imagery: visible, infrared, and water vapor. Each type has a unique quality that is very useful for meteorologists. Visible Imagery Visible satellite