My First Week, Part 1: A New Jersey Fish Out Of Water 2017-11-15 15:44:08.000 - Mike Carmon, Senior Meteorologist & Education Specialist   This coming Saturday, November 18th, the Mount Washington Observatory celebrates another important date in our history: the date of our first recorded weather observation atop Mount Washington’s summit. In honor of this historic occasion, our shift has decided to regale you with tails from each of our individual first shift-weeks on the job. It’s been quite some time for a few of us, and maybe a little less for others, but one thing’s certain: we’ve all transformed

The Evolution of a Summit Intern 2017-11-13 13:18:40.000 - Greg Cornwell, Summit Intern   Life can be a series of repeating patterns. This sounds comfortable and boring, but when you apply it to a different viewpoint, it’s how you seek your adventure. It’s about jumping into a new environment, learning and building yourself up, persevering, and then looking back at how you have grown. Being an intern on Mount Washington follows this process, as much as it did in that first job out of school and school itself. I filled out my intern application right on the deadline for the

Best Day Ever, Part 4: First 120+ mph Wind Experience 2017-11-08 12:08:21.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/ IT Specialist   I’ve had quite a few days that have been very exciting up here on the summit over the last few years. I remember most days where we have gotten over 120 mph, but the day I first experienced it as an intern was the most memorable. It was on October 30th, 2015 when we had the remnant low of Hurricane Patricia pass near the summit. The high winds caught us off guard because the forecast only had gusts up to

Best Day(s) Ever, Part 3: Backpack Birthday Cake and the Number 127 2017-11-06 17:40:09.000 - Caleb Meute, Weather Observer / Meteorologist   Not to sound like a broken record, but my girlfriend Molly is kind of a big deal. People know her. She has many leather bound books and her apartment smells of rich mahogany (With a hint of cat… We have two cats). One of my most memorable days working on the Rockpile was my birthday July 16, 2016. It was Seek the Peak! Molly had raised money for the Observatory and would be summiting Mount Washington that day

Best Day Ever, Part 2:Sandy's Little Brother 2017-11-04 16:27:15.000 - Nicole Tallman, Summit Intern   Let’s take it back to October 29th, 2012. I was a few years younger but equally as passionate about the weather. As a high school senior the top thing on my mind when I heard about Hurricane Sandy was the possibility for school closing. I was very excited to get a break from classes and get to relax at home, but I was ignorant of how powerful this storm was going to be. Hurricane Sandy drove right into the coast of New Jersey, the state

Best Day Ever, Part 1: An Irrational Pi Day 2017-11-03 09:12:58.000 - Mike Carmon, Senior Meteorologist & Education Specialist   It can be remarkably difficult to pinpoint one's most memorable experience in a place teeming with endless opportunities for once-in-lifetime events. Occasionally I’ll say to myself "I should seriously catalog these memories somehow," but in the same manner as these events pertain to, these thoughts are fleeting and become amalgamated in a haze of similar situations. Nevertheless, there are certainly a few weather events that stick out from the rest of the pack as far as their notoriety, and the

Your Body as a Weather Instrument 2017-10-29 11:02:49.000 - Bill Ofsiany, Summit Volunteer   I love this time of year. The leaves are mostly gone, as are the crowds and bugs. It is the time of year that the weather instrument that we know best, becomes evident: our body. The first hint of cold weather you might experience something called vasomotor rhinitis. When cool or cold air hits your eye, a gland above and to the side of the eye starts producing more tears, that flood into a canal that drains into the nose, and stuffs it up. You will

Wishful Thinking...Rhyme (Rime) Time on the Rockpile 2017-10-26 10:55:02.000 - Bill Ofsiany, Summit Volunteer   This time of year, the days get short; the cold begins to bite, The fog that last month, wet the rocks, now covers it all with white.   Wind and cold and fog; so common all the time, Now changes the face of the summit, and coats everything with rime.   The summit looks otherworldly, as tentacles of rime start to grow, Straight into the wind, like ice sculptures, but almost as soft as snow,   Or something very much like it, that forms as

Understanding Dew Point 2017-10-25 16:34:32.000 - Taylor Regan, Weather Observer   Every hour, on the hour, a weather observer atop the summit of Mount Washington steps outside and begins a weather observation. Sky cover, wind speed, visibility, temperature, dew point, all this information is gathered together and stored both in our records as well as sent off to the National Weather Service to be incorporated into weather models. While most of these variables are fairly self-explanatory, one of them requires a little further investigation. Can you guess which one I’m talking about? As a hint, it is largely responsible for

Obs Life Off-Summit, Part 4: Dream One Size Too Big 2017-10-24 15:37:39.000 - Nicole Tallman, Summit Intern   I have always dreamed of the weather. My safe place was curled up in a blanket, watching lightning illuminate the sky. I was not like most other people who shy away from the extremes; but rather I would be drawn closer to them, peering out the window at their beauty. Pursuing meteorology is what felt right. I learned more and more about the dynamics of how storms are formed, what conditions are favorable for what. However, my 4 years in school drew