Thanksgiving on Mount Washington

2011-11-24 22:49:02.000 – Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Our Thanksgiving spread tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving! Well, at least for another hour or so. In a lot of ways, today was just another work day for those of us on the summit right now. This is the third out of five Thanksgivings since I started working for the Observatory full-time that I have had to be on the mountain. We get asked by a lot of members and guests whether it is difficult having to deal with being on the mountain for major holidays like this. Of course it is in some ways, but in the end it’s just part of the job and part of the unique work schedule. Also, although we all end up working some holidays, we also end up with some off. For example, I am on shift for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I will get New Years off.

Even though we’re aren’t able to be with family and friends on holidays such as this, we still celebrate the best we can at our home away from home. The whole crew cooked up a storm this afternoon and evening. In the end, our Thanksgiving feast was comprised of roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, sage stuffing, cheesy broccoli casserole, corn, salad, cranberry bread, and apple pie. Everything was so good that no one actually got around to eating the apple pie because we were all so full!

Today was an eventful day in other ways too. A very nice sunrise kicked off the day, with a low undercast below us and clear skies above that made for a nice aplen glow on the surrounding mountains. Later in the day, winds increased and began blowing around all the snow that fell yesterday. Seeing just how much snow the wind can move and how far it can move it is always an impressive sight. Then to top off the day, we had a gorgeous sunset before dinner this evening.

Lots of photos and some video were taken. Photos of the sunrise and the blowing snow can be found on our page on Facebook right now, and pictures from sunset will be posted there tomorrow morning. All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving on the top of the Northeast!

Brian Clark,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist