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2006-03-10 06:08:09.000 – Tim Markle,  Chief Observer

A colorful sunrise

It took a little time, but the warm air finally scoured the cold air away from the summit last night. At 7pm the temperature was 15 degrees with light snow falling. By 9:30pm the snow had changed to freezing rain with a temperature of only 18 degrees! This was the first sign that the warmer air was making its way in. Then at 10:30pm the temperature soared to 24 degrees. By 3:30am the temperature climbed to a whopping 38 degrees! This may not sound all that warm, but a jump in temperature of over 20 degrees in 7 hours is pretty impressive! Usually we talk about how much the temperature drops.

With that said, the temperature has dropped a bit to around 34 degrees this morning. The fog departed briefly, but is beginning to return to the summit as I type. The fog should remain, along with the above freezing temperatures, through much of the day. By this afternoon a cold front will slide through the region dropping temperatures back to more winter-like readings. Winds will increase to near 100 mph for a time this evening as well.

The summit did pick up 2.5 inches of snow yesterday before the warm air moved in. Unfortunately, it looks as though any more chances for snow may be far and few between for at least the next week as this spring-like weather pattern will continue.

I leave you with a picture of the wonderfully colorful sunrise from yesterday. As per Neil’s comment yesterday, the circular disk is not the sun, but a reflection of the sun’s light off of clouds below the horizon containing uniform ice crystals.

Tim Markle,  Chief Observer