A Picture Perfect Week on the Summit 2016-07-26 13:09:11.000 - Deb and Kurt Markarian, Summit Volunteers   Our story for volunteering began nearly 4 years ago when my wife Deb purchased our membership as a present to our daughter Victoria and I. Along with the membership was a trip for Victoria and I for a winter day trip. I was hooked at that point.     Now we skip forward to our actual adventure as volunteers at the Observatory. We started our Wednesday by feeding 17+ people for lunch! We settled in quickly with the crew as they were all friendly

Our Little Library 2016-07-25 18:09:01.000 - Meredith Campbell, Summit Intern   Here at the Mount Washington Observatory, we are lucky to have a plethora of reading material. Over our eighty year history books brought by the observers, interns, and volunteers along with generous donations from our members have accumulated to provide a wealth of knowledge in the form of our own little library. Because we work such long days here, I don’t have a lot of free time to read, but I do love to look through our bookshelves to see what I can find.    As you can imagine

Picture Perfecting 2016-07-24 18:22:20.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   If you’ve ever visited the White Mountains, you know how beautiful and photogenic they are. I decided to check out some of the other images that others have captured, so I checked out the tag #WhiteMountains on Instagram today and found several pictures from the past day, week, month and beyond. Several of them I liked (literally, I gave them a double-tap), however, there were a few that raised an eyebrow; and I am not the only one to notice some questionable photographs as several photographers I follow have

Last Night’s Thunderstorms & an Explanation of Lenticular Clouds 2016-07-23 12:20:47.000 - Tim Greene, Summit Intern                   We often see lenticular clouds at the Observatory, but yesterday evening we got to see a less common variety; a convective altocumulus lenticularis (try saying that ten times fast). Prior to the onset of a thunderstorm band that rolled over the summit last night, there was a spectacular 360 degree view of convective cloud formations. Unsurprisingly, the sky was dominated by cumulus towers bubbling up, the most impressive of which were located over southern Quebec. Bear in mind that if we are experiencing 60 statute

Where does the weather come from? 2016-07-21 17:40:37.000 - Christopher Hohman, Summer Intern   When we’re in grade school we all learn about the beautifully simple water cycle as the explanation to every storm forming over us. This model for weather isn’t incorrect by any means, but you’d be surprised how much more there is to the whole process. On a daily basis the atmosphere moves like a fluid on not just small local scale, but continental and even global. This is one of the most core ideals of meteorology, and after staring at pressure charts for long enough and

A Turbulent Weather Day 2016-07-19 14:15:45.000 - Mike Carmon, Senior Weather Observer & Education Specialist   Yesterday, we were all thrilled with the prospect of severe weather in northern New Hampshire. All signs pointed to an eventful afternoon for most of New Hampshire and Maine, with the summit of Mt. Washington smack in the middle of the action.  Yesterday's severe weather risk from the Storm Prediction Center Forecasted values of CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) were exceptionally high (by New England standards), signifying a good deal of instability in the air. That's ingredient number one. Due to the income of

Seek the Peak 2016-07-18 10:08:09.000 - Emily Schuitema, Summit Intern   Very shortly after moving out to the White Mountains region for the summer, I discovered that one of the best parts of living here is the hiking. Driving down any given mountain road you pass dozens of trailheads, which will lead you to waterfalls or ravines or all the way to the top of a mountain. There's nothing as peaceful as taking a long walk through the mountains, and there's nothing as rewarding as the view once you reach the top. Yesterday at Mount Washington Observatory was Seek the

Convection 2016-07-13 16:26:28.000 - Andrea LaRocca, Summit Intern   It's the start to another great week here on Mount Washington. To start the week off with a bang, we have the potential for some thunderstorms this evening. With plenty of sunshine still peeking through, we're crossing our fingers for a good one today. With the likelihood of us being in and out of the clouds for the next couple of days and rain showers possible, the welcome sight of severe weather is always one we will take. As clouds form during the day, a consequence of day time heating, small

The Aurora Borealis 2016-07-12 19:01:04.000 - Tim Greene, Summit Intern             Last night, fellow night observer Mike Dorfman and myself were witness to one of the night sky’s greatest shows, the Aurora Borealis. Despite the high auroral activity forecast (a 5 on a 0-9 scale) for North America by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, we were not expecting to see anything too spectacular; certainly nothing like the desktop wallpaper caliber pictures that come out of places like Iceland and northern Canada. Even with a higher auroral activity forecast (say, a 6-8) it is in no way a guaranteed event,

An Internship at the top of New England 2016-07-10 10:36:55.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   Although it’s only July the deadline for our fall internship program is only 5 days away making me think back to my internship on the summit, which led to my eventual career here at the observatory. Back in 2011 I applied for the internship, and was very excited to hear back and be able to work my way through the interview process and get a chance to see the summit for an in-person interview. The interview took place in late April for this summer