A Great First Week 2016-05-17 18:52:43.000 - Meredith Campbell, Summit Intern   Hello world. I’m Meredith, and this was my first week working as a Summit Intern at the Mount Washington Observatory! A little bit about me. I graduated last Saturday from Daniel Webster College in Nashua, NH with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and I’m obsessed with space. That’s pretty much all there is to know about me, and that’s actually why I’m here at the MWO. My goal for the summer is to gain some atmospheric knowledge, so that I can go back to school and possibly become

How Windy is Windy? 2016-05-16 17:52:21.000 - Mike Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   If you’ve ever spent time on the summit with me, I call all wind from 40-70 miles per hour “a bit breezy”. With winds pushing the century mark, and gusts up to 109 mph, I think I will upgrade that to “Blustery.” But how windy is windy, really? It’s really impossible to imagine the winds on the summit without experiencing them firsthand. The Sherman Adams building has 3 foot thick concrete walls and 3 layers of bullet-resistant glass windows. Even with this protection, the constant, dull roar

Winter's Return 2016-05-15 18:55:21.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   If you follow any of our social media feeds (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram), you likely saw that it snowed this morning on the summit. As of this writing, it is still snowing with snow showers expected to continue overnight and into Monday. In addition to the snow, temperatures are dropping and winds are ramping up and are expected to reach the century mark overnight into Monday. So it’s a full on return of winter on the summit making one do a double take with the calendar ensuring it is

From Summer to Winter! 2016-05-13 16:29:49.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   After very mild temperatures over the past few days, wintry weather is set to make a return to the higher summits of New England this weekend. Temperatures climbed all the way up to 55°F on Thursday on the summit, just two degrees shy of a daily record high. We saw plenty of hikers enjoying the warm temperatures, sunshine, and light winds, and it felt like the first summer-like day up here. Changes are already on the horizon, with a cold front crossing the area this evening producing steady

Warmer Days Ahead! At Least in the Near Term 2016-05-10 07:21:48.000 - Adam Gill, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   After a winter dominated by ridges and warm air advection in New England, spring has been fairly cool. We have been in a persistent trough with weak ridges building in for a short period leading to plenty of cold air aloft keeping the temperatures on the cool side. Over the next few days, it looks like there will be a strong ridge building into New England, with temperatures in the valleys soaring into the mid-70s and the summit possible getting to 50

Extraordinary Views to Total Darkness 2016-05-07 12:54:41.000 - Caleb Meute, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   My first week on the summit was a fond reminder of why I decided to return to work for the Mount Washington Observatory. On average, the summit of this mountain is shrouded in fog 61% of the year. Traveling to the summit offers the chance to see truly spectacular views if you happen to be up here on a clear day. On clear days, when the atmosphere is relatively dry and free of haze, it really feels like you are on top of the world as

Paw-don This Interruption 2016-05-05 14:15:27.000 - Marty, Summit Cat   With the distinct honor and privilege of being the Observatory's most distinguished and venerable staff member, I write to you with a belly full of scrumptious treats and a mind bursting with invaluable observations regarding high-altitude life as the sagacious Summit Cat. The summit observers tell me this winter has been a mild one, but I wouldn't know it. The cozy interior of the weather room has been my purr-imary dwelling place throughout the last few months. Anything below 40F is far less than ideal for my delicate feline senses.

Operating Schedules 2016-05-03 19:05:01.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   With summer quickly approaching, we start getting questions via email and our social media pages about the operating schedules for the various entities on and around Mount Washington.   Mount Washington Observatory: Our Weather Discovery Center in North Conway is open Thursday-Monday from 10am to 5pm. Live From the Rockpile runs at 1115 am and 215 pm Thursday-Monday. Additional information can be found HERE.   Weather Station Tours - available when the Mt. Washington State Park Sherman Adams Visitor Center is open to the public (see below). Additional information

Another Round of Winter 2016-04-26 14:10:42.000 - Michael Wessler, Summit Intern      As a lover of all things snow-related, wandering onto the deck this morning to find a fresh coat of light, relatively low density snow draped over the landscape was quite the treat. While thoughts of warm, summer days are not far off in the future, and a few warm days are under our belt already, winter has a way of overstaying its welcome in New England and especially up on the Rockpile.        This time of year, changes occur that can lead to a highly

The Things We Do For Summer 2016-04-23 13:09:19.000 - Mike Carmon, Meteorologist   Today is April 23rd, meaning the calendar is inching ever closer to those months we call the summer season. This also means our snowpack is dwindling, and doing so in quite an expedient manner now. The sun rises higher into the sky now that the summer solstice is approaching, which means we're receiving more direct solar radiation. This is the result of the angle of the sun's rays with Earth's atmosphere in the northern hemisphere; these rays must travel through less of the atmosphere, leaving them with