The Winds of Winter

2014-11-03 18:00:19.000 – Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist

The winds of winter are certainly back across the higher peaks of New England, with the powerful Nor’easter yesterday causing winds to gust over 100 mph for much of the night, with a peak gust of 112 mph for November 2nd. This morning a second even higher gust of 116 mph was recorded, with winds remaining sustained above hurricane force for much of the day.

Working nights alone during these conditions can be both exhilarating and a little scary, with de-icing atop the weather tower and taking the short walk over to the precipitation can the two tasks that become the most difficult in high winds. Last night winds were extremely gusty for the first half of the night, with the 112 mph gust occurring during winds that were averaging only 80 mph that minute. These type of winds were challenging to deice the top of the tower in, and had winds reached sustained speeds of 100 mph, a century club attempt would have been impossible due to the deck being nearly bare of snow and extremely slippery. Every observer knows their own limits that they feel comfortable in, and had the winds started gusting over 120 mph I likely would have woken a second observer up to accompany me during trips outside. With that said, the return of 100 mph winds to the summit was a welcome one, and all of our observers are looking forward to whenever the next big storm arrives!

Tom Padham, Weather Observer/Meteorologist