NCON3 Goes Live on the MWObs Mesonet Webpage 2015-12-29 17:37:44.000 - Roger Pushor, IT Specialist   After they finished helping Santa load his sleigh, some of Santa’s Elves were busy over the Christmas weekend getting the new RainWise MKIII-LR Weather Station located at the NCON3 site reporting on our Mesonet Map. RainWise Incorporated of Trenton, Maine, donated their top of the line automatic weather station that uploads temperature, precipitation, wind, barometric pressure and relative humidity data every minute to our Website. You’ll find the information from this site in the lower right corner of the map labeled “WDC” for Weather

A Decade Of Observing Mount Washington's Weather 2015-12-28 15:33:27.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Ten years ago to this day (December 28, 2005), I started working at the Mount Washington Observatory. I started as an intern but a month or so after arriving as an intern I was hired on as a temporary-full time observer. What this title meant was I was hired as an observer but I had until the end of my internship (May 2006) for the Observatory and I to decide whether or not I should continue as a full time observer. Since I am

A "Summitized" Christmas Carol 2015-12-25 05:49:47.000 - Ryan Knapp, Weather Observer/Staff Meteorologist   Over the years I have done “summitized” parodies of Christmas stories/songs and this year is no exception. In the past, I did a parody on the poem/song “The 12 Days of Christmas” titled “The 12 Days of Summit Christmas.” Another one was “Twas the Night Before Christmas” with an obs spin on how the story goes. This year, I am putting a twist on the song “Deck the Halls” which I am titling “Deck and Obs”. So as your reading it, put it to the tune of

Don't Panic Yet! Our Memory is Short! 2015-12-23 07:43:52.000 - Ed Bergeron, Weather Discovery Center   Today’s weather blog comes from the MWO headquarters in North Conway, where most of us live anyway. Last week there was a meeting in our conference room presented by the League of Conservation Voters where ski and lodging industry leaders spoke of the negative impact of recent warm temperatures and lack of snow on the local economy. Since winter began at 11:59 PM last night the concern and doomsday predictions may be a little premature. Let’s explore some temperature and snow climatology from the

Snowless Christmas? 2015-12-21 17:44:51.000 - Adam Gill, Summit Intern   Many places in New England will not experience a white Christmas this year, including the summit. We have an unusually warm air mass moving in mid-week that will cause the temperatures to get well above average. Temperatures for much of the east will see record highs on Christmas Eve with temperatures even getting into the mid 60s for areas along the coast! Up on the summit we are expecting temperatures to get into the upper 40s which could topple our all-time record high of 47 for the month of December!

The Cold is Here, But Not to Stay 2015-12-19 17:08:20.000 - Mike Carmon, Co-Director of Summit Operations   The uncharacteristically-warm December has taken a brief hiatus. While we were still experiencing the uncanny warmth yesterday that usually comes in September/October, the first truly potent cold front of the winter season came charging through last night, which has sent temperatures tumbling down to more expected levels. It's an interesting scenario: it feels much colder, almost too cold, but we're finally right about where we should be for December temperatures. And it only took nearly 20 days! I guess we're getting accustomed

Wintry Weather Ahead! 2015-12-17 19:55:17.000 - Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist   After a very warm and mild start to the winter season so far across the higher elevations of New England, we’re all anxious for more in the way of snow, cold, and the high winds that make Mount Washington famous. The summit has been seeing rain and freezing rain today as temperatures hover near the freezing mark, which is roughly 15 degrees above average for mid-December. Behind this system much colder air will move in to northern New England. Beginning Saturday, temperatures will struggle to rise out of the single

The Science Behind Kelvin Helmholtz Wave Clouds 2015-12-14 09:35:25.000 - Andrew Henry, Summit Intern   While we did not receive any #MWOMetMonday questions this week, one of our Facebook followers posted the following picture of some unusual clouds, wondering what they were.        The clouds Johanna snapped a picture of late yesterday afternoon appear to be Kelvin Helmholtz clouds, also called billows. These clouds resemble breaking ocean waves, with rolling eddies seen at the top of the cloud layer. Kelvin Helmholtz clouds are named after two scientists, Lord Kelvin and Hermann Von Helmholtz, who studied the physics that

Winter on the Summit? 2015-12-12 17:06:51.000 - Michael Dorfman, Weather Observer/IT Specialist   Just like much of the valley, Mount-Washington-style winter has not yet enveloped the summit. Typically, we’re using the snow cat at least partway up the Auto Road at this point, but almost the entire road is bare pavement and easily passible with our chained up truck. It’s not quite as wintry as we’re used to for this time of the year on the summit, but the temperatures and conditions we’re seeing could seem like full-on winter for most people living at sea level. The shoulder seasons typically

Warm Weather Ahead! 2015-12-07 14:57:47.000 - Adam Gill, Summit Intern   It has been warm here in New England so far this December! The question is, will this warmth continue for a little while longer? The answer is yes for at least the next couple of weeks as a typical El Nino weather pattern sets up across the country. The warm waters in the Eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean causes warmer air to reside further north in the pacific than normal. This changes the path of the polar jet stream and the subtropical jet stream causing them to shift further north