OLLI comes to MWO 2016-10-24 23:18:42.000 - Will Broussard, Education Coordinator   On Wednesday the Education Department of the Mount Washington Observatory completed a three week adult education course on the basics of meteorology and forecasting with local Mount Washington Valley residents. The course was titled; “Life, Work and Environment at the Mount Washington Observatory” and was presented to members of the Conway branch of OLLI at Granite State College. OLLI, an acronym for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a volunteer-run membership organization founded by the Bernard Osher Foundation in 2000 with “an open invitation for individuals 50+ years of

Getting Ready for High Winds, Snow and Ice 2016-10-22 17:17:18.000 - Ben Brownell, Summit Intern   Well we have finally crossed the last few items off of our winter checklist this shift and are ready for the storm!  Some final tasks include sealing up a few windows and making sure our instruments that can't handle icing are taken down for the storm.  As I'm sure you all know our pitot tube is our primary instrument for high winds and icing events.  We are expecting to be pretty busy throughout the weekend chipping off all the ice and measuring the snow

The Premiere Major Winter Event 2016-10-20 14:27:19.000 - Mike Carmon, Senior Weather Observer & Education Specialist   A significant storm system has its sights set on New England this weekend, which could result in the first big major winter snap for Mount Washington this young season. It's an intriguing setup to say the least--a low pressure system forecasted to develop over the mid-Atlantic states on Friday will join forces with a tropical disturbance currently churning just east of the Bahamas. As these systems phase together and move northward, the resulting low pressure system will rapidly deepen over northern New England

Job Posting and 2017 Calendars 2016-10-18 18:21:04.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Having worked here for over a decade, one thing I have learned is that the only constant is change. Every year, winter changes to spring, spring changes to summer, summer changes to fall, and once again fall changes to winter. Views change from 20 feet to 130 miles then back again. Technology changes becoming more efficient and smaller. Our museum has changed. Our gift shop has changed. And apart from me, our summit personnel has changed a few times. Most recently is a change that occurred

October Weather 2016-10-17 14:32:50.000 - Taylor Regan, Summit Intern   October! With leaves changing color, and temperatures typically fast in their descent, October is perhaps the epitome of fall in New England. So how has this October stacked up to those of years past? Overall, there are several things worth remarking on. Firstly, for those who made the trip up this past weekend to participate in our 84th Founding Day celebration, consider this a lucky year! Quite often, by this time in October, the building is either intermittently or seasonally closed to the public, and the summit securely in the

84 Years Young! 2016-10-16 15:25:51.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   Yesterday, 10/15/2016 was the 84th Anniversary of the founding of the Mount Washington Observatory. In celebration of 84 great years, we offered free tours of our legendary weather station, with a few hundred people able to enjoy the exceptional weather and learn about the important work we do atop Mount Washington. It was a great experience, and hopefully we shared our enthusiasm with the many visitors to the summit. It’s amazing to be able to continue the work of the original founders of the observatory back in 1932: Alex

Dish-Antenna Ice-Break Installation 2016-10-13 23:18:13.000 - Pete Gagne, IT Specialist   Internet and phone service for the Observatory is accomplished with the use of a pair of microwave dishes – one on the summit tower and the other mounted at the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway. Last winter, during a significant icing event, a large chunk of ice broke free from a neighboring post and smashed into the top of our dish. Luckily, it didn’t completely knock us off-line, but it did momentarily hinder service and caused us to rethink how to better protect the dish from future damages.

A Busy Week on the Summit 2016-10-10 21:35:40.000 - Ben Brownell, Summit Intern   What a busy week it has been on the summit for us here at the observatory! With the fall colors peaking this week and seasonably warm temperatures many people took advantage and came up to come check out the observatory. I have honestly lost track of the number of tours I have given this week, if I had to guess around 20 tours or so. I met a lot of great people who made the trip up the mountain just to come see what we do

Record High Temperatures and Fall Colors 2016-10-07 20:27:20.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Today we have broken our daily record high reaching 57 degrees! The old record high was 56 set back in 1990. Luckily it was a really nice day up on the summit so people could enjoy the fall colors below!  Fall foliage at the base of the Auto Road heading up for shift change  So why have we been so warm over the past couple of weeks? Our average temperature for this time of year is only 33 degrees so we should be seeing freezing

Thank You and Goodbye! 2016-10-05 04:47:52.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   After 4 years as an Intern and Weather Observer with the Mount Washington Observatory, I have decided that it is time to move on. The last few weeks have been very bittersweet, knowing that this wonderful chapter of my life is coming to a close and waiting in anticipation for the next one to open. I have been trying my hardest to take mental pictures of every beautiful moment, storing them in the dusty shoe box that never gets thrown away in the back of my head.