Preparing for Winter

2013-09-22 18:01:32.000 – Tom Padham,  Summit Intern

Sunrise Friday Morning

With winter quickly approaching up here on the summit, I’ve been busy the past few days making sure everything is ready for the winter season. Yesterday I helped the observers put in our outer layer of storm windows around the weather room. The outer layer of windows helps to keep a little bit of the draftiness out of our workplace and also is some added protection during the winter season when winds are typically much higher. I also helped to bring in our EMF reader, which is used during the summer to help give us an idea when lightning may become a hazard on the summit. Even Marty has been doing some preparation for winter, grooming himself even more often than usual to help bring in his new winter coat.

The weather for the next 24 hours also seems to be hinting at winter’s arrival, with temperatures forecasted to fall well into the 20s overnight along with a few mixed precipitation showers (and maybe our first snowflakes of fall!). The higher summits should remain mostly in the fog through tomorrow, resulting in a healthy amount of rime and glaze ice. Should be interesting to see just how wintry things will look tomorrow!

Tom Padham,  Summit Intern