Rapid changes on the summit…

2006-10-29 09:00:11.000 – Ryan Knapp,  Observer

Frozen Footprints…

Working night’s means that I sleep during the day, but that proved to be difficult yesterday with winds blowing out of the southeast. When winds come from this direction, every time an observer uses the tower door, the winds funnel down the stairs and blow into the observatory living quarters. This in turn causes the bedroom doors and bedroom ceiling tiles to shake. So after waking up every hour thinking that my room was possessed by a poltergeist, I went to work.

Waking, I found it raining with temperatures climbing to the 42 degree mark. What this translated into was the world’s largest slurpee as the snows turned from 13” of powder to 7” of slush. The worst was a giant slush puddle in the middle of the summit which I named “Lake Manthisissuckee,” the sibling of Lake Winnipesaukee. Now, normally my LL Bean Winter Sports Boots keep my feet warm and dry but when the slush is so deep that it goes in through the top, there is little that can be done but to deal with it. So was the case when getting the precipitation can at the 1800 observation.

Fast forward to the midnight observations precipitation can retrieval. Temperatures dropped to 20 degrees turning the slush to a sheet of ice, freezing everything in place. This included the foot steps made from earlier in the day, resulting in 12 inch long, four inch wide, and seven inch deep pot holes all over the summit. Although it made things difficult, it was neat to look at, like a paleontologist examining the footsteps of some ancient creature.

Ryan Knapp,  Observer