Lull Before the Storm

2012-12-29 16:26:08.000 – Steve Welsh,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist

NULL

This is certainly turning into quite an exciting weather week. The Nor’easter on Thursday was really impressive with horizontal snow flying past the summit leading to near white out conditions for most of the day. Trying to de-ice in the 100+ mph easterly winds was a real challenge, we are so used to our winds coming from the west to northwest that you instinctively position yourself out of the way of the falling ice, when the winds are 180 degrees away from normal you have to constantly remind yourself to take extra care and stand on the opposite side to usual otherwise it hurts.

Yesterday the winds finally turned round to the northwest picking up all the new snow and transporting it back over the summit before dropping it in the eastern ravines.

Today it’s much quieter with very light winds and just a few flakes of snow slowly drifting down. Tomorrow, however, is looking much more interesting. The latest model numbers put the winds well over 100 mph by tomorrow night and the temperatures down to around zero degrees. There’s a definite feeling of anticipation and excitement among the weather nerds up here – fingers crossed that it doesn’t fizzle out – there’s nothing quite like a good storm up here.

Steve Welsh,  Weather Observer/IT Specialist