A Storm to Remember 2017-03-15 09:24:48.000 - Mike Carmon, Senior Weather Observer & Education Specialist   The winds on the morning of Tuesday, March 14th were feeble at best—at least by the standard of a mountain renowned for its regularly high wind speeds. Winds of 10-25 mph out of the southwest brought an eerie lull to the start of a day that promised to be a tempestuous one. Thick clouds obscured any promise of morning sunlight from above, and the clouds with tops below the level of the summit brought that familiar sense of isolation to the summit staff—perhaps an

Viral Video and Impending Nor'easter 2017-03-11 19:40:03.000 - Caleb Meute, Weather Observer / Meteorologist   Thank goodness I have been taking my Vitamin C up here because we went viral. Weather Observer Adam Gill and IT Director Keith Garrett decided to have a little fun on Thursday and ventured onto the deck to play around in winds sustained near 100 mph with gusts exceeding 110 mph. Keith filmed Adam holding the hurricane flag and struggling to make forward progress while walking across the deck. The footage they captured shows the true power that winds of that magnitude exert on one’s

Winter has Returned! For now 2017-03-09 16:32:15.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Today we have winds that have well exceeded the century mark with a peak gust of 119 mph! For a short period of time, we were even sustained over 100 mph for about 8 minutes but it was far too gusty to try the century club. Winds have since been breezy, sustained around hurricane force with frequent gusts into the 90s. The peak gust of 119 exceeded my forecasted peak gusts of 100 mph yesterday afternoon. Shortly after submitting the forecast I saw reports of gusts

Mt Washington Backcountry Ski Festival 2017-03-07 04:49:21.000 - The Observatory Staff, Mount Washington Observatory   If you are in the Mount Washington Valley this coming weekend, March 11-12, 2017, our friend Mark Synnott of Synnott Mountain Guides will be hosting the First Annual Mt Washington Backcountry Ski Festival presented by The North Face. Experienced guides will be leading skiers in sessions geared for a variety of different interests and skill levels. Some topics include: Intro to Backcountry Skiing; Steep & Deep Ski Techniques; Avalanche Awareness; and Huntington Ravine Gully Skiing. Festival participants can also ski on their own, enjoying the

Mount Washington-Home of the Country’s Least Sunshine? 2017-03-06 10:31:30.000 - Nathan Flinchbaugh, Summit Intern   If you’re lucky enough, you’ve had the opportunity to stand on the summit and experience the amazing view that stretches 130 miles, offering views of the Atlantic and nearby Canada. And if you’re at all familiar with the weather on Mount Washington, you know that you’re lucky, as these days are few and far between. The summit spends a good portion of the year in the clouds, which can quickly suffocate your view from 130 miles, to barely able to see your own feet in

Why is Sunrise So Colorful? 2017-03-05 15:00:29.000 - Taylor Regan, Weather Observer   Have you ever wondered why we see such color in the sky at sunrise or sunset? Or perhaps why we perceive the sky as blue through the majority of the day? The answers to these questions have to do with how visible light reacts in and with our atmosphere.   First, let’s take a look at visible light. What is it made of? And why is it white? Visible light, just like radio waves or microwaves, is a form of electromagnetic radiation, and electromagnetic radiation is a

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes 2017-03-01 22:01:12.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   There are several reasons I enjoy working here - the weather (obviously), the people, the views (when we have them), Marty Kitty, and so on and so forth. But what I really enjoy is seeing everything around me evolve over time. For some things, the change is quick - vistas coming and going in between passing clouds, deep piles of snow one minute being scoured off the next, or rain at the start of a shift then snow ending it a few hours later. For other things, the change takes

Snow Loss and Flooding in our Tower 2017-02-26 15:28:38.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Over the last 4 days we have seen temperatures above freezing with only a handful of hours below freezing. This has unfortunately lead to tons of snow melt up here. Much of the snow pack that we had around the summit is now gone! As someone who really likes the snow, it was terrible to see all the snow melt so quickly. One thing that always surprises me up here is how fast the snow will melt when we have one of these thaws.

Today, It Was Warm 2017-02-24 18:34:14.000 - Mike Carmon, Senior Weather Observer & Education Specialist   Temperatures over the last few days have been exceedingly mild for late February on Mount Washington. Although we haven't broken any daily record highs, we came within 1 degree of our record high on Wednesday (2/22), we tied our daily record high yesterday (2/23), and as I write this evening, we’re closing in on our record high for the day of 42°F (the current temperature stands at 41°F). Our solid snowpack of nearly 30 inches has dwindled to less than 15, and the well-packed

Snow, Wind, & Ice: 9 Days on the Summit of Mount Washington 2017-02-22 06:17:50.000 - Ruth Innes and Andy Keegan, Summit Volunteers   The call came on Monday, February 13th. The shift change would occur on Tuesday, February 14th due to anticipated severe weather on Wednesday. For Ruth – not too difficult (lives in Littleton, NH). For Andrew – well it is a long way from Westchester County, NY to the Auto Road in NH! We both scurried around in our respective homes and arrived for a long, adventurous ride in the Snowcat. Wind and snow prevailed on 4.5 hour