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2006-03-12 03:37:09.000 – Tim Markle,  Chief Observer

The weather overnight has made it a true joy to go outside hour after hour to collect the data for the weather observations. Temperatures in the 20s, clear skies, and a steady 40mph breeze has brought the feeling of spring back to the summit. Just 24 hours ago, I was suiting up every hour to de-ice in wind gusts over 100mph, using crampons to get walk out to the precipitation can, and watching the temperature plummet back into the teens! It is amazing to watch how quickly the weather up here can go from some of the worst to some of the best!

Neil and Jon took advantage of the mild weather and bright sunshine to “galavant”, as they put it, around the summit cone. The report back from them was that the top layer of ice was crunchy, but the hard packed snow underneath was still slushy. This is not good news since temperatures are expected to be above freezing until Tuesday morning. The already “warm” snow will not fair well against a prolonged period of above normal temperatures.

On a sporting note, it has taken only three days for our volunteer, Bruce, to beat both Neil and I in ping pong. In fact, Bruce became “The coolest person ever…for a day” by getting the ping pong ball to fall into a hole in the table and stay there. It may not sound all that exciting, but when you’re stuck up here for an entire week the simplest and newest things become all the more exciting!

Now I am off to practice my backhand amd top-spin serve before the daytime crew wakes up!

Tim Markle,  Chief Observer