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2010-10-12 23:36:25.000 – Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist

Winter Up Top, Autumn Down Below

As I sit here on yet another Tuesday evening, as one more shift draws to a close, my mind is fully in-sync with weather-related thoughts. In addition, though, I have the concept of change on my mind. In that vein, let’s take a look at the change our mountain home has held for us from this shift to last shift:

October 6th – October 12th
Maximum Temperature: 40F on 6th
Minimum Temperature: 16F on 9th & 10th
Average Temperature: 28F
Peak Wind Gust: 98 mph on 7th
Average Wind Speed: 46.1 mph
Solid Precipitation (in the form of snow and ice pellets): 1.7″
Liquid Equivalent Precipitation (with rain and freezing rain): 1.25″
Days with Fog: 7 (fog is almost certain for tomorrow, but the day has not arrived yet!)
Sunshine Hours: 20 out of a possible 81 (25%)
Nights I wore snow pants: 5

It has certainly been a wintry week for us on the summit! Let’s compare to our last shift week…

September 22nd – September 29th
Maximum Temperature: 58F on 24th
Minimum Temperature: 33F on 23rd
Average Temperature: 45F
Peak Wind Gust: 82 mph on 24th
Average Wind Speed: 38.5 mph
Solid Precipitation: None
Liquid Equivalent Precipitation (rain): 1.34″
Days with Fog: 8
Sunshine Hours: 14 out of a possible 98 (14%)
Nights I wore snow pants: 0

This week has characterized a more typical winter week, with higher average wind speeds, a wintry mess of precipitation, temperatures that rarely peaked above the freezing mark, and slightly less fog. This is all in opposition to our last shift, with temperatures that topped out above 50 degrees for 5 out of 8 days, low temperatures that never dipped below freezing, foggier days, and absolutely no wintry precipitation. While the weather may oscillate a bit from day to day, one can always count on the general downward trend of colder, shorter days from summertime into winter. And that’s a change that won’t change, so perhaps this comment was not regarding change at all!

Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist