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2009-11-01 14:57:58.000 – Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist

Halloween on the summit.

Daylight Savings Time strikes again! As Steve struggles with yet more database issues, Mary Ellen and I occasionally here the frustrated sighs coming from the IT corner. We also hear the sporadic rants about daylight savings time and how it’s utterly useless. Steve is attempting to fix these time issues for good, and has been at it for the entire day. I’d say a rant or two is definitely admissible, if not completely warranted. On the bright side, the summit and valley facilities are now on the same time, erasing the omnipresent confusion of what time it really is.

In other news, most of us are slightly bummed. After all the hype (even on our off-week, Mike and I were tracking the winds on this storm) winds peaked at only 96 mph yesterday. Though it is an exiting number, we were all hoping to hit the century mark. However, we did get an impressive frontal passage. Temperature plunged from 48 degrees F to 37 degrees in about half an hour! By the time the rest of us woke up in the morning, it felt like November, with winds about 60 mph and temperatures in the lower twenties. Refreshing.

Maybe it was due to the weather or because Mount Washington is kind of a pain to get to in costume, but we didn’t receive any trick-or-treaters yesterday. That’s three years in a row with no special Halloween guests, and all the more candy for us! We did kick back and enjoy the holiday; Friday night Mary Ellen, Mike, Deb, and I all worked together to carve a pumpkin and roast the seeds. And yesterday we all dressed up and ate way too much candy.

Staying up too late and going to bed with a stomach ach, watching scary movies and wearing costumes is what Halloween was all about when I was growing up. I’m glad that we were able to continue the tradition on the summit.

Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist